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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
BUREAU OF EDUCATION 



BULLETIN, 1919, No. 49 



[Advance Sheets from the Biennial Survey of Education, 1916-1918 ] 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1919 



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OF THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM 

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EDUCATION IN PARTS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



CONTENTS. 



Canada : General educational activities — The language issue ; agricultural instruction ; 
vocational work for returned soldiers ; Dominion Educational Association, The Mari- 
time Provinces — Legislation ; Nova Scotia ; Prince Edward Island. Quebec — Two- 
fold organization of public-school system ; public interest ; need of rural teachers. 
Ontario — Superannuation act ; school-attendance hill ; effects of the war ; continua- 
tion schools ; industrial, technical, and agricultural education. Manitoba — Demo- 
cratic methods ; advisory board ; consolidation ; attendance ; teachers ; high schools ; 
the university. Saskatchewan — Centralization of administration ; survey of 1917 ; 
school-attendance act ; short-term schools ; agricultural instruction ; teachers ; health 
promotion. Alberta — Graded and ungraded schools ; school-attendance act. British 
Columbia — Rural high schools ; school districts. 

Jamaica : Organization of the system — Government grants — Teachers — Administration — 
Curricula— Industrial and technical training — Secondary education. 

Australia and New Zealand : General features — New South Wales — Victoria — Queens- 
land — Western Australia — South Australia — New Zealand. 

Union of South Africa : General features — Language problem — Secondary education — - 
Agricultural education — Colleges and universities — Education of non-Europeans. 

India : Introduction — Administration of the schools — Secondary education — Colleges and 
universities — Technical, industrial, and agricultural education — Education of girls — ■ 
Mohammedans — Europeans — Training of teachers. 

Egypt : Budget — Primary schools — Secondary schools — Higher colleges. 

Education of Jews in Palestine : General development — Secondary education — Agri- 
cultural training — Establishment of a university. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS IN THE DOMINION OF CANADA. 

By Waltee A. Montgomeky, 
Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems, Bureau of Education. 



GENERAL EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES. 

Certain educational activities are common to most, if not all, of 
the Provinces of the Dominion ; and these will be considered in their 
general bearings before the local and individual problems of the 
several Provinces are taken up. Chief of these general movements 
are the following: 

THE LANGUAGE ISSUE. 

Having its roots deep in what is perhaps the greatest diversity of 
racial origins in the world, Canada's problem of solving the question 
of permitting the establishment and maintenance of schools giving 
instruction in other tongues than English presents difficulties even 
more complex than in any State of the American Union. Accord- 
ing to immigration statistics, Canada has within the past 10 years 

3 



4 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

received waves of immigration from 26 distinct racial entities. For- 
tunately, there is not to be noted a corresponding number of divisions 
of the language problem. The great majority are too few in number 
to segregate themselves solidly apart from the English and French 
populations. The groups which distinctively show and carry out 
such a tendency are the German, Polish, and Puthenian. The bear- 
ings of the question on the social, economic, and political sides are, of 
course, manifold; but this treatment concerns itself only with its 
bearings upon education, and essentially upon the elementary phase. 
This field alone shows such diversity in the ways the problem must be 
solved by the individual Provinces as to call for a survey separately 
or by groups. 

The situation in the Maritime Provinces of Prince Edward 
Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia may be dismissed with 
slight notice. This group differs fundamentally from all the 
others in being essentially homogeneous in population. From con- 
siderations of geography, climate, and pursuits, immigration has 
uniformly passed them by. The situation is therefore the simple 
one of rivalry between the French and the English language. De- 
spite a large proportion of Acadians left in each of these three 
Provinces, the religious and educational relations between the 
French and English have always been so amicable, and legal com- 
promises have been so skillful, as to forestall all friction. Nova 
Scotia's settlement of the problem may be taken as typical. In 
that Province a special inspector (an Acadian) is provided for 
Acadian schools; brief summer courses in colloquial English are 
provided in the Provincial Normal College at Truro for French- 
speaking teachers; in the first four grades French readers are pro- 
vided for French-speaking children, with instruction in colloquial 
English, and English-speaking teachers are not required to know 
French. 

Proceeding westward, Quebec presents the problem of bilingual 
instruction distinctively along the line of religious faith; and her 
solution is eminently satisfactory of what might be, with less tact- 
ful handling, the most dangerous combination of religious and 
racial jealousies. The general line of cleavage adopted is, as may 
be expected, English for and in the Protestant schools, and French 
for and in the Roman Catholic schools, though a confusing element 
intervenes in the English-speaking Irish population of Quebec and 
Montreal. By wise provisions of the Protestant committee of the 
provincial board of education, French courses of study are included 
in those of the Protestant schools, being required from the fourth 
to the eleventh grade, and in the comparatively few French Protes- 
tant schools French is the language of instruction, with required 
courses in English. Similarly, the committee of Catholic schools 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. - 5 

provides for the use of French for instruction, and requires Eng- 
lish from the first year in the great majority of such schools ; and in 
the Catholic schools of Irish and English communities the converse 
provision is made. In the populous centers some Catholic schools 
use one language for instruction in the morning and the other in 
the afternoon ; and in the Catholic superior schools the training in 
English is notably fine. The key which simplifies the situation 
is that the racial elements in Quebec are locally distinct. The 
hope expressed by the superintendent of public instruction the month 
the war broke out that local good sense and patriotism would over- 
come any difficulty has been amply fulfilled. 

Geographically and in population Ontario has many points of 
resemblance to Quebec; but an important dissimilarity lies in the 
overwhelming majority of the English-speaking population (about 
2,000,000) over the minority of all those speaking other languages 
(about half a million). Without anticipating the treatment of the 
strictly educational system of Ontario, it may be said that, barring 
the independence of religious schools found in Quebec, Ontario 
allows much the same language privileges to the minority. Historic 
traditions of sentiment and race loyalty clustering around the city 
of Quebec have always deeply impressed the French-speaking popu- 
lation in Ontario as well, and this feeling is even intensified by their 
being unable to have enacted into law such concessions as those en- 
joyed by their kinsmen in the Province of Quebec. Furthermore, a 
steady tide of the latter set in a generation ago into Ontario. The 
displacement of English-speaking farmers that followed served still 
further to widen the breach of race and language. Begulations of in- 
creasing severity requiring the teaching of English in all schools, 
passed by the Department of Education on the basis of recommenda- 
tions made by a commission of inquiry, led in 1915 and 1916 to acute 
and in. some localities disastrous situations in French schools and 
school boards. The trouble was settled in November, 1916, by the 
judgment of the Privy Council of the Dominion, which held that the 
right to the use of a certain language concerns only legislative or 
court use, and does not relate to education, but that the right to man- 
age schools, as well as that to determine the language to be used in 
them, are alike subject to the regulations of the provincial education 
department. 

In sharp contrast to the homogeneous character of the Maritime 
Provinces and to the absence of a serious language problem there, 
the prairie Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and British Co- 
lumbia show great racial diversity, due to successive waves of immi- 
gration which followed each other too rapidly to be assimilated. In 
Manitoba's estimated one million people are to be counted 19 racial 
units not speaking English, of which 6 number more than 50,000 



6 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

each, with the aggregate estimated at 60 per cent of the total popula- 
tion of the Province. Some idea of the race diversity may be gained 
from the statement that the Bible is sold in Winnipeg in 58 different 
dialects. Of those speaking a language other than English, the most 
serious problem is presented by the German Mennonites, the Poles, 
the Russian Doukhobors, and the Ruthenians. 

Manitoba, largely under the influence of the educational thought 
of the States of the American Union just to the south, frankly made 
no legal allowance for any system of public instruction other than the 
purely nondenominational ; and she could therefore offer no such 
solution of the language problem as that reached by Quebec and 
Ontario. In 1896 a compromise was adopted by which, in localities 
where 10 pupils spoke French or other language than English (pre- 
domantly Mennonite), bilingual teaching must be provided; but 
the French Roman Catholics were not satisfied, and at Winnipeg 
and Brandon maintained separate parochial schools, besides paying 
regular taxes for public schools, 

When the tremendous tide of immigration set in about 1902, each 
racial group took advantage of its legal rights under the above com- 
promise. The climax was reached in 1915 when nearly one-sixth 
of the schools of Manitoba were bilingual — 143 teaching French, 70 
German, 121 Polish or Ruthenian, all in addition to English. The 
unwisdom (noted at the time) of the failure to adopt compulsory 
school attendance in Manitoba was now made apparent, especially 
in Ruthenian communities. The first relief afforded was the out- 
right repeal (1915) of the clause requiring bilingual teaching when 
demanded by the parents of as many as 10 children. In Manitoba, 
then, as the situation now stands, no more bilingual teaching certifi- 
cates are issued, and present holders are permitted to teach on the 
old ones until June, 1919, when they will be invited to qualify for 
regular certificates. English examinations for entrance to normal 
schools have been required since 1917, the substitutes of French or 
German grammar and composition having been abolished. 

In Saskatchewan matters are similar to those in Manitoba. Of 
the alien elements, the Colony Mennonites, the Colony Doukhobors, 
the Ruthenians, and the Germans retarded unification by declining 
to send their children to the public schools which the law provides 
that the community itself may organize. Educational and social 
leaders have thought it best not to compel them, but to wait for the 
influence of new-world surroundings and the example of the inde- 
pendent branch of each religious sect to do their disintegrating work. 
The Ruthenians, who constitute the largest population in the north- 
ern part of the Province, and the Mennonites, among whom entire 
communities formerly evaded the law by simply not organizing the 
legal school district but establishing private parochial schools, offer 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 7 

each of them distinctive phases of the problem to be solved. Over 
these the provincial inspectors had up to 1917 no power whatsover. 
The new school-attendance act of that year, however, gave the depart- 
ment of education power to investigate all nonpublic schools and to 
apply legal pressure when needed, though the law leaves a serious 
loophole for evasion in not requiring " the parent or guardian to 
send the child to public school if the child is under instruction in 
some other satisfactory manner." Controversy over the interpreta- 
tion of this clause must continue until further legal action settles it. 

In Alberta the very large number of groups speaking other lan- 
guages than English led to the appointment in 191-1 of a supervisor 
of foreign schools, vested with large power of supervision and inter- 
ference. Here, as elsewhere, the Ruthenian group gave most trouble, 
as they clung most tenaciously to their parochial schools. Because 
of the widely varying degrees of excellence found in the latter, the 
Government has steadily refused to recognize attendance at such 
schools as fulfilling the compulsory educational requirements. This 
policy, tactfully and yet unswervingly adhered to, has resulted in 
the closing of almost all the Ruthenian schools and of many Ger- 
man-Lutheran private parochial schools conducted by theological 
students from Lutheran colleges in the United States, which were 
considered as not reaching the prescribed standard of efficiency. 

Last of all, and strange to say, parallel to the situation in the 
Maritime Provinces of the east, the extreme western Province of 
British Columbia presents no language problem, though showing 
wide diversity of racial groups, each of which is so small in numbers 
as to offer no trouble in the matter of language instruction in the 
public schools. 

It may safely be concluded that the question of the language of 
instruction throughout the Dominion has steadily tended to a satis- 
factory adjustment since its injection as an issue of extremely bitter 
controversy six years ago. At one time threatening to disrupt boards 
and schools, notably in Ontario, it came to have applied to it the 
spirit of fair play characteristic of western democracy, and the 
general principle of the rule of the majority, tempered with conces- ! 
sions to local sentiment. 

AGRICULTURAL INSTRUCTION. 

Federal interest in agriculture has expressed itself in two parlia- i 
mentary enactments: 

1. The Agricultural Aid Act, passed in 1912, by the provisions of 
which the sum of $500,000 was distributed among the Provinces of 
Canada on the basis of population. While partly educational, the 
objects of this grant were also of a general social and economic , 
character, with rural conditions fundamentally in view. 



8 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

2. The Agricultural Instruction Act, passed in 1913, by the provi- 
sions of which ten million dollars was set apart to be divided among 
the Provinces for agricultural instruction during the ten years end- 
ing March 31, 1923. As the name implies, this act is preeminently 
educational, and its work falls under four divisions : 

(1) The teaching in the public schools of the first principles of the sciences 
related to agriculture. 

(2) The teaching of more advanced agriculture in agricultural colleges and 
schools devoting their attention to the training of teachers, investigators, and 
community leaders. 

(3) The carrying on of extension work, having for its object the instruction 
of farmers by acquainting them through demonstrations, and by other means 
with the results of scientific investigation and research. 

(4) The amelioration of the conditions of rural life, particularly in so far as 
women and children are concerned. 

These objects have been variously carried out in the. several 
Provinces, but in them all the nature of the stimulus given to agri- 
cultural instruction has been much the same, being guided by the 
advice of local authorities who have in view urgent local and pro- 
vincial needs. 

VOCATIONAL WORK FOR RETURNED SOLDIERS. 

The care of the returned Canadian soldier has devolved entirely 
upon the Military Hospitals Commission, established and given- ex- 
tensive powers by successive orders in council. This commission 
works together with a committee of both houses of the Canadian 
Parliament in the training and reeducation of wounded, disabled, 
and convalescent soldiers. In the system adopted, the training for 
new occupations of men who can not resume their former Occupa- 
tions — vocational reeducation — is the phase of deepest educational 
significance. Under this head, and responsible to the commission 
first named, nearly every Province has the following organizations: 

1. A Provincial Disabled Soldiers' Training Board, which deter- 
mines who are fit subjects for vocational reeducation. 

2. A body having generally advisory powers for securing the co- 
ordination of local efforts and the cooperation of educational insti- 
tutions. 

3. Vocational officials in immediate charge of work in each locality 
under the Vocational Secretary of the Dominion, with headquarters 
at Ottawa. 

4. Various organizations, such as the Returned Soldiers' Employ- 
ment Commission, which have charge of placing the men in bread- 
winning occupations. 

The efficiency with which all these agencies cooperate necessarily 
varies widely in the several Provinces ; perhaps the finest illustration 
of the practical working of the general plan is to be seen in the 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 9 

western Province of Alberta, from which many of the first enlist- 
ments in the Canadian expeditionary force came. At the Military 
Convalescent Hospital at Ogden, military organization and disci- 
pline prevail. In addition to systematic treatment involving occu- 
pational therapy of the most modern type, specialized vocational 
reeducation is given in — 

(1) Commercial courses of six months; 

(2) Instruction of disabled soldiers, foreigners who had enlisted 
in the Canadian forces, in English; 

(3) Civil-service examination courses; 

(4) Manual arts; 

(5) Gardening and poultry raising; 

(6) Industrial trades along the line of the vocational survey of 
the Province of Alberta projected just as the war broke out, with 
instruction at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art at 
Calgary, organized as a link in the general system of public instruc- 
tion in Alberta, and for the present turned over exclusively to dis- 
abled soldiers. 

Many problems of vocational training are here being worked out 
with remarkable success. The caliber of the students and the rela- 
tion between them and the educational authorities may be seen in 
the fact that a students' council at the institute has powers of self- 
government, works out programs of study, recently voted for in in- 
crease in daily hours of work, and has frequently been asked for 
advice on the contents of courses. In March, 1918, the vocational 
training branch of the Provincial Invalid Soldiers' Commission had 
under its instruction more than 3,000 returned soldiers. 

Dominion-wide interest in this world problem did not cease with 
the cessation of hostilities. At the convening of the Canadian Par- 
liament in February, 1919, it was announced in the speech from the 
throne that bills would be submitted for the further promotion of 
vocational education in ail its phases, and that a recent order in 
council had provided substantial increase of vocational pay and al- 
lowances to returning soldiers while undergoing such reeducation. 

THE DOMINION EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION. 

Perhaps the most vital bond of union between the Provinces from 
the point of view of teaching is the Dominion Educational Associa- 
tion. This includes representatives from each Province, meets an- 
nually in November, in Ottawa, and constitutes a clearing house for 
the interchange of educational ideas, besides contributing substan- 
tially to the growing federalistic consciousness. A few of the salient 
subjects discussed at its 1918 meeting will show the very valuable 
part it serves in educational progress : " The Improvement of School 



10 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Administration and Its Dependence on Changes in Legislation"; 
w The Fisher Bill of England " ; " The Adolescent School Attendance 
Act of Ontario " ; " Uniform Textbooks for Canadian Schools " ; 
"The Kelation of Technical to Complete Education"; "Education 
for the New World after the War ?' ; " The Eeturned Soldier — What 
Can We Do for Him ? " ; " The Federal Government and Statistics on 
Education in Canada.' 5 Of late years it has invited leading educa- 
tional thinkers of the United States to address it, notably the Com- 
missioners of Education, and thus has come to have a distinctly inter- 
national character. 

THE MARITIME PROVINCES. 

The three Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince 
Edward Island, by reason of similarity of climate, industries, and 
population, constitute a distinct unit. Their educational problems 
and methods of solution are closely akin, as is evidenced by the 
flourishing maritime educational convention held annually for the 
discussion of topics of common importance, and marking each year 
a distinct growth toward solidarity. In many respects New Bruns- 
wick may be regarded as most progressive; and a survey of edu- 
cational progress there will be largely representative of the other two. 
As in all the other Provinces, the service of the teachers and the edu- 
cational machinery in the winning of the war continued unabated 
until the end, especial interest being taken in the organization of the 
Dominion work in education for Canadian soldiers overseas and in 
the projected establishment of educational facilities in England for 
soldiers detained there after the war. 

The school laws passed within the two years showed marked in- 
crease in educational interest. The powers and responsibilities of 
school trustees were largely increased ; the attendance of district rep- 
resentatives upon county or provincial teachers' or trustees' insti- 
tutes was encouraged by defraying their expenses; reciprocity of 
teachers of corresponding grades with Nova Scotia, safeguarded by 
the certification of. one of the other superintendents of instruction, 
was established; and superior schools in the seventh grade and up- 
ward were declared free to all pupils residing within the parish or 
parishes concerned. Most important of all, however, is the legisla- 
tive act of 1918, defining vocational and prevocational education 
and schools, providing for provincial and local administration and 
control by a committee consisting of the Superintendent of Educa- 
tion, the Principal of the Normal School, the Secretary of Agricul- 
ture, the Director of Elementary Agricultural Education, and three 
others, including one representing capital and one labor, outlining 
the method of establishing schools and departments of vocational edu- 
cation, allowing provincial grants on the basis of equal appropria- 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 11 

tions of local taxes for designated instructions in this field; and 
finally, providing that no part of the annual vocational grant shall 
be given to any district, town, or city unless a compulsory school- 
attendance law has been adopted therein. 

Closely related is the project having for its object the establish- 
ment of home efficiency clubs throughout the Province and the 
stimulation of the production of home-canned fruits and vegetables. 
Upon the inauguration of the system late in 1917 one hundred 
clubs were formed, with a total membership of 1,700 girls between 
the ages of 10 and 18 years. The aggregate production of these 
clubs was estimated in 1918 at 50,000 quarts of food canned or 
otherwise preserved. In May, 1918, the Board of Education for- 
mally recognized the movement by the appointment of a woman 
supervisor for girls' clubs. This official by the end of 1918 had over 
200 active organizations under her direction. A striking feature 
of the movement also was the fact that many domestic-science 
teachers of the Province volunteered to help in this general work 
by giving up three weeks of their summer vacation. In 1918 these 
teachers were regularly employed by the Department of Educa- 
tion to visit the clubs during July and August. In preparation for 
this, short courses were provided in the normal school, with special 
regard to the local products and conditions of the districts to which 
individual teachers were assigned. 

In the matter of increased production the Dominion-wide move- 
ment was promoted in New Brunswick by the schools in cooperation 
with the agricultural department. The inspectors were summoned 
to a conference, and the Province organized by the selection of 
the most suitable centers in each inspectorial district and the 
appointment of a committee in each. A stimulus was given to 
good scholarship by the provision that only boys whose school 
standing was satisfactory should be allowed to volunteer for this 
work. 1 Assistance was also lent by the Department of Education 
through the district organizations in the distribution of circular 
and seed- card estimates sent out by the Department of Agriculture. 

With the purpose of securing data at first hand upon the extent 
and methods of free textbook distribution — always a much-mooted 
question in the Dominion — the superintendent of education in 
1917 visited all the western Provinces, and embodied his findings 
in a report containing many other points of interest besides that 
of his immediate object. He found that free readers were sup-* 
plied in all the Provinces west of Ontario, and free materials in 
some, free arithmetics, agriculture texts, atlases, and libraries in 
others; that Ontario supplied hand-books in each subject to each 

1 Similar departmental regulations were also issued in Nova Scotia. 



12 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

teacher; that British Columbia was the only Province supplying 
free textbooks throughout ; that in Manitoba each district or munici- 
pality was allowed by law to supply its own texts free, with the 
prospect that this would shortly become compulsory; that an inter- 
esting sign of closer unity was seen in the fact that the four western 
Provinces had tentatively agreed to appoint composite committees to 
select uniform textbooks for all. 

NOVA SCOTIA. 

Noteworthy in the educational history of Nova Scotia is the regu- 
lation adopted by the council of public instruction, compulsory from 
August 1, 1919, guaranteeing the raising of teachers' salaries and 
basing the minimum salary upon the average annual salary paid 
for the five years ended July, 1917. Ranging from $200, the lowest 
hitherto paid, up to $750, increases are graduated according to vari- 
ous percentages, assuring a minimum of $400 in future. The act is 
effectively safeguarded by the provision that — 

the license of any teacher engaging to teach in any section at a less salary 
than that defined above shall at once be suspended, and if any section engage 
a teacher at less salary than the above specified, snch section shall forfeit its 
share of the muncipal fund and shall not be regarded as having a legal 
school. 

PEINCE EDWAED ISLAND. 

Legislation in this Province showed marked progress in the follow- 
ing amendment to the section of the Public Schools Act designating 
the requirements of voters at school meetings : 

Notwithstanding anything in this act or amendments thereto, every married 
woman or widow having one or more children of school age in actual attend- 
ance at the school shall be a qualified voter at. all school meetings in respect 
of all matters and things cognizable by a school meeting and shall be eligible 
for election as school trustee. 

In accordance with this amendment women have been elected and 
promptly qualified and have thus come in closer touch with the needs 
and improvement of the schools. 

The compulsory attendance clause of the school act has also been 
strengthened by the following amendment : 

Every person having under his control a child between the ages of 8 and 14 
shall annually during the continuance of such control send such child to some 
public school in the city, town, or school district in the county in which he 
resides at least 30 weeks if such person resides in the town of Charlottetown 
or Summerside and 20 weeks if he resides elsewhere in the Province. 

The enforcement of this provision was made obligatory upon all 
boards of trustees. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 13 

QUEBEC. 

Any adequate survey of educational progress and conditions in the 
Province of Quebec must be based upon a clear understanding of the 
unique legal character of its public school system. This includes a 
twofold organization which follows sharply the lines of the two 
dominant religious faiths, with each division entirely independent 
of the other. The final control and direction of the Roman Catholic 
schools are vested in the Catholic committee of the council of public 
instruction; those of the Protestant schools in the corresponding 
Protestant committee. Both are under a common superintendent of 
public instruction for the Province, who is ex-officio chairman of 
both, though he usually delegates the actual power in one or the other 
committee, and to whom each inspector general submits an annual 
report for transmission to the secretary of state. Each committee 
works primarily through its inspector general, whose powers are 
entirely derived from it. In matters of common import the com- 
mittees combine either in whole or in part. 

The great majority of the schools of all grades in the Province are 
Koman Catholic — in 1916-17, 6,562 out of a total of 7,289, enrolling 
approximately 430,000 pupils out of a total of 500,000. Among the 
administrative acts of the Catholic committee for the past two years 
was their declaration in favor of forming classes to prepare young 
pupils for the first-year course of study in the primary schools, and 
the issuance of a certificate of studies upon the completion of the 
elementary, intermediate, and superior courses : 

There is question at this time of a new distribution of the subjects included 
in the courses of the elementary and model schools, in such a way as to 
eliminate those which are not absolutely necessary for these schools, and to 
distribute the subjects over seven years of teaching. 

The Catholic committee also instructed its inspector general to 
initiate a close investigation of the condition and needs of the Catholic 
schools of the Province, and early in 1917 he made the following 
recommendations : 

1. That the course of study in elementary schools be more effectively 
carried out, rather than have additions of subjects or time. 

2. That the importance of the training of very small children in 
preparation for the first grade of elementary course be recognized 
and more attention be paid to it. 

3. That the men and women teachers of the Province be stimu- 
lated to greater professional efficiency both in preparation and in 
permanency in the same school. 

4. That the number of schools under the direction of male teachers 
be increased in all possible ways. 



14 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

5. That the maximum number of pupils in each class should be 
reduced from 50 to 40. 

6. That a certificate of study should be conferred as a reward for 
work both to teachers and to pupils, and with the view of encourag- 
ing the latter to pursue their studies beyond the prescribed 13 years. 

Among the administrative acts of the Protestant committee were: 
The indorsement and transmission to the Government of the pro- 
vision for compulsory education for Protestant children, along the 
line of the petition of school commissioners of certain towns unani- 
mously presented to the legislature of the Province and the unani- 
mous motion of the Protestant Teachers' Convention, the Council 
of Public Inspectors, the Provincial Association of i.School Boards, 
and a few Catholic local school boards; the revision of laws relat- 
ing to the employment in industries of children who had not passed 
a certain scholastic standard; and the thorough revision of school 
books and courses of study for the year ending June, 1920, in order 
to meet adequately the conditions brought about by the war. 

Each committee has been fortunate in the activity and vigor of 
its inspector general. In 1917 the Catholic inspector general, in 
addition to the investigation outlined above, noted as encouraging 
signs the growth in interest shown by the local school commissions, 
due largely to the conscientious labor of the local inspectors ; the de- 
crease in the number of women teachers without diplomas by exactly 
half within the past five years; the increase in salaries such that 
those from $100 to $125 have practically disappeared and that the 
average salary has come to range from $200 to $300, being almost 
doubled in the past six years; the resolution passed by the Roman 
Catholic inspectors, and indorsed by the Protestant inspectors, 
calling upon the committees for such a raising of the minimum 
standards of the rural schools as would qualify all these to partici- 
pate in the minimum salary grants. 

Both Catholic and Protestant committees during 1917 and 1918 
initiated the holding of campaign meetings throughout the Province 
to promote public interest in education, urging the voting of money 
for improved buildings and higher salaries. The Protestant in- 
spector general noted a most encouraging awakening of popular 
interest in many localities in improved school facilities, but em- 
phasized the urgent need of better salaries for rural teachers, if 
any with diplomas were to continue to be available; and he called 
for a minimum salary of $50 per month, which would not be unduly 
burdensome in view of the new tax assessments made in 1918 in 
many localities. He concluded: 

The economic reasons are not confined to the facts that trained teachers 
are allured to other Provinces where the reward is greater ; young women of 



EDUCATIONAL, DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 15 

ability are constantly afforded more attractive careers in our own Province as 
trained nurses and as stenographers and typewriters in banks and business 
offices. The war has intensified this demand, and an inadequate supply of 
trained teachers is not only evident now throughout the Province, but is 
bound to become still more inadequate in the immediate future. * * * The 
example of the British Parliament in adopting a great progressive educa- 
tional policy involving increased expenditures in war times is one to be fol- 
lowed. 

ONTARIO. 
THE SUPERANNUATION ACT. 

The most important piece of educational legislation of the Prov- 
ince of Ontario during the past two years was the teachers' and in- 
spectors' superannuation act. Its main provisions are as follows: 
(1) The assessment of 2£ per cent upon the salaries of teachers and 
inspectors with an equal sum contributed by the Province, the said 
payments to be deducted from the legislative school grants and to 
be placed to the credit of the superannuation fund, and to be de- 
ducted finally from the individual salaries; (2) pensions based on 
length of service and amount of salary, the minimum being $365, and 
the maximum $1,000 per annum, with the requirement of a mini- 
mum of 30 years' experience or 15 years if retirement is caused by 
ill health; (3) a controlling board composed of an actuary, two 
other persons appointed by the minister of public instruction, and 
two teachers or inspectors, active members of the Ontario Educa- 
tional Associaton and regularly elected by that body. ' 

PROPOSED LEGISLATION. 

Of great importance, also, is the introduction of the following 
bills in the legislative assembly of the Province: 

1. The bill for the establishment of a system of consolidated 
schools, following closely the lines of corresponding legislation in 
the prairie Provinces, where such schools have for some years con- 
stituted the basal feature of rural school administration. It is still 
(April, 1919) pending, but is regarded with universal favor 9 and is 
certain to pass. It marks a long step forward in elasticity of rural 
school administration. 

2. The adolescent school attendance bill, making compulsory part- 
time school attendance of boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 
18. It provides that adolescents between 14 and 16 must have 400 
hours of education each year, and those between 16 and 18 have 320 
hours, and that they can not secure employment unless they shall 
have obtained certificates that they have complied with the law 
or are exempt for legally specified cause. Urban centers of 5,000 
population or over must provide for adolescent school courses. 



16 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

THE EFFECTS OF THE WAB. 

As regards the practical operation of the schools of Ontario, the 
effects of the war have been pronounced in the following respects: 

1. In diminishing the normal supply of teachers. According to 
the report of the chief inspector of public and separate schools, not 
only have — 

A considerable number of teachers enlisted for service overseas, but a much 
greater number have withdrawn to more lucrative positions with fewer re- 
sponsibilities. The loss to the Province, not counting the cost of educating 
these teachers, is sufficient to cause serious alarm to the authorities of the 
elementary schools. The obvious and manifest remedy for this state of affairs 
is to insist that boards of trustees shall adjust the salaries of their teachers 
to the increased cost of living and to the increased wages now earned in other 
occupations. Unless a very considerable increase in salaries of teachers is 
made, a still more serious condition will arise. Not only will the service of 
the teachers now engaged be lost, but students will cease to be attracted to 
the teachers' training schools. 

2. In decreasing the amounts expended for the improvement and 
construction of school buildings. The inspector just quoted, how- 
ever, finds a compensating, advantage which has made for better 
school buildings and better school grounds, viz, the better organiza- 
tion of community life and a tendency to regard the school as its 
center, a movement which had its beginning in the demand made by 
the war for a higher standard of physical efficiency and its revela- 
tion of hitherto unsuspected but widely prevalent physical defects 
through the reports of the Army medical examiners. 

3. In increasing the difficulty of securing the punctual and regu- 
lar attendance of pupils at schools. On this point the same inspector 
reports that the arrangements effected by regulation two years ago 
in view of the exigencies of the war have left something to be desired 
in the way of more specific regulations to compel attendance. The 
truant officer provision has not been found satisfactory : " With the 
increased cost of wages the temptation for parents to withdraw their 
children from school, especially where fruits and vegetables are 
grown, has necessarily increased." 

CONTINUATION SCHOOLS. 

The continuation schools have grown steadily during the past two 
years. In spite of difficulties of accommodation and equipment, the 
favoring regulations and the liberal system of provincial grants 
made to this type of school have advanced their usefulness, though 
with the confusion incidental to the war only the largest centers have 
as yet such schools in full operation. The inspector of the district 
which enrolls the largest number of such schools advocates making 
it obligatory that every continuation school employing two teachers 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 17 

and every high school having four teachers or less shall establish 
departments of agriculture and household economy giving a two- 
year course and winter courses in each; that schools with a staff of 
more than six teachers shall establish departments of technical 
training and household economy; provision should be made for 
training a sufficient number of the best available teachers, the bur- 
den of expense being distributed over the muncipalities that de- 
rive benefit from such a school, and attendance of pupils for the 
greater part of the time between the ages of 14 and 17 being made 
compulsory. 

For the past two years the decrease in the attendance of boys upon 
the continuation schools has been noticable, more particularly among 
the first-year pupils, attributable to the great scarcity of labor on 
the farms, necessitating the work of the larger children at home. In 
industrial centers the decrease is due to the attraction of high-school 
boys and girls to employments paying high wages. According to 
the report of the inspector of the district, which shows more dis- 
tinctively rural conditions: 

The continuation schools when first established were expected to provide 
secondary education for the youth of the rural and village communities of 
the Province, and so had a strong tendency toward training for country life 
by means of making agriculture one of the chief subjects of study. Unfortu- 
nately, these schools have not to any great extent fulfilled such expectations. 
Instead, these schools are simply high schools in rural or village communities, 
with courses similar to those in the city high schools and fitting youths for 
the teaching profession and for entrance to the universities and professional 
colleges. 

INDUSTRIAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Though the full development of the various types of schools con- 
templated by the industrial education act of 1911 was interrupted 
by the war, representatives of every type provided for by it have 
been established : Day schools, including general industrial schools, 
technical high schools and high-school courses, part-time coopera- 
tive industrial courses for apprentices actually employed, and schools 
and courses for instruction in the fine and applied arts; and night 
schools distinctively for adult workers. The needs of the war have 
brought special emphasis to bear upon the instruction for appren- 
tices. Public-spirited employers in some places have offered tangible 
inducements to attend classes in mechanical drawing and shop mathe- 
matics, and in one instance managers allow one month to be deducted 
from the year's apprenticeship for a faithful winter's work in night- 
school classes upon these subjects. War needs have also brought to 
the front the value of classes for women in domestic science. 

But perhaps the greatest progress in industrial and technical 
education has been made in the development of the day schools, 
129488°— 19 2 



18 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

reaching as these clo boys and girls under 14 who can not be given 
such training in the public schools, and who have not the maturity 
of mind to do successful night-school work. This branch of educa- 
tion lias also received great stimulus from the attendance of re- 
turned soldiers in trade and technical classes, this having been 
affected by arrangements with the Dominion agencies already men- 
tioned, which used the already established courses for the re-educa- 
tion of disabled soldiers. 

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

Mention has been made of the disappointment felt in certain quar- 
ters over the failure of the continuation schools, as originally con- 
templated, to develop agricultural instruction as its chief feature in 
rural schools. According to the report of the inspector of elemen- 
tary agricultural classes, this type of instruction has steadily over- 
come difficulties, and wherever it has been established as a regular 
subject of the public-school curriculum it has maintained itself and 
steadily grown in public favor. Perhaps the most conspicuous proof 
of the part agricultural education is coming to play in the Province 
is seen in the school fair exhibits held in the rural districts, and 
serving by means of the appeal to local productions, interests, and 
the awarding of prizes for excellence along agricultural lines, to 
arouse and maintain a social solidarity unknown until their introduc- 
tion. By regulation school fairs are formally organized under the 
direct charge .of the district representative of the department of 
agriculture of the county in cooperation with the public school inspec- 
tor. According to the report of the supervisor of district repre- 
sentatives : 

The special features in many places are the live-stock judging competitions, 
for teams of three boys from each school, who are asked to judge two classes of 
live stock, generally beef or dairy cattle and heavy horses ; the public-speaking 
contests in which from 2 to 10 boys and girls compete ; the boys' and girls' driving 
contests, which include rapidity and skill in hitching and unhitching : the school 
fair parades ; physical drill under the Strathcona trust ; weed and apple naming 
contests, and the exhibition of calves and colts by boys who had spent con- 
siderable time training their pet animals. 

The call made each spring for increased food production, issued by 
the ministers or superintendents of public instruction throughout the 
Dominion, resulted in Ontario as elsewhere in a tremendous stimulus 
to formal instruction in agriculture. A large number of the schools 
undertook school garden work for the first time with very gratifying 
results. By ministerial regulation the duties of inspectors were still 
further increased in the promotion of agriculture, horticulture, and 
manual training and domestic science especially adapted to the 
requirements of farm life, and it was made the duty of each public 



EDUCATIONAL, DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 19 

and separate school inspector to inspect half-yearly the teaching of 
agriculture and horticulture in the schools of his inspectorate, and 
to make a special report thereon to the minister and the school boards. 
By the regulation of 1918, special grants were offered, to school 
boards and teachers of lower and middle schools for satisfactory 
work in agriculture and horticulture, and to rural and village schools 
for classes maintained in manual training as applied to the work of 
the farm or in household science suitable to the requirement of rural 
districts, where a qualified teacher is employed, and accommodations, 
equipment, and a course of study approved by the minister are 
provided. 

MANITOBA. 

DEMOCRATIC METHODS. 

The transition is abrupt from the close centralization of the public 
school system of Ontario to the thoroughly democratic system of 
Manitoba. Each is the outcome of peculiar social and political con- 
ditions. In Manitoba, as in the adjacent sister Provinces of Sas- 
katchewan and Alberta, conditions of life are largely rural, and they 
have fashioned educational machinery to their own liking. The unity 
of the interests of these three Provinces is so generally recognized that 
in May, 1918, their ministers and deputy ministers met at Calgary, 
in Alberta, adopted uniform textbooks in most of the public and high 
school courses, and provided for a training course for teachers of 
the first and second class certificate which should be 33 weeks in 
length, the completion of grades 11 and 12 being prerequisite to 
admission to it. 

Contrary to the municipal unit, which is the basis in the Provinces 
to the eastward, the unit of educational organization in Manitoba 
is the school district, ranging in area from 16 to 25 square miles, 
with the legal provision by which the district can be organized with 
10 school children. The several district and municipal boards have 
absolute power in the financial support and physical upkeep of the 
schools and in the selection of teachers, subject only to the general 
supervision of the ministry of public instruction. Eemarkable elas- 
ticity in administration is secured by the provision of the public- 
school act by which a municipal school board may be established in 
any municipality where the electors so desire. In addition, any 
rural council may, and on petition of 15 per cent of the electors shall, 
submit a by-law at any municipal election for the purpose of ascer- 
taining the wishes of the people in the matter, upon the passing of 
which law trustees are elected who are required to take over the whole 
matter of administration of the schools, the original school districts 
being dissolved, and the new board possessing all the powers pro- 
vided in the act for boards of rural school trustees. 



20 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 



An important feature of the latter is the appointment of an official 
trustee to take charge of school districts which can not be satisfac- 
torily managed by a regular board of school trustees. This system 
has been attended with marked success; and in the work of organiza- 
tion and management the services of the official trustee have in many 
cases proved invaluable. The trustees in their turn have combined 
during the past two years in provincial and local associations, open- 
ing the way to united action along many lines and securing a broad 
attitude toward educational problems which would otherwise have 
been impossible or at least long delayed. The activities of the 
official trustees have been especially commended by the inspectors of 
the districts. The Manitoba Educational Association has recognized 
the great part they play and has created a special section known as 
the trustees section of the association. 



THE ADVISORY BOAED OF EDUCATION. 



On the academic and scholastic sides a unique feature in the sys- 
tems of the western Provinces is the advisory board of education. 
In Manitoba this organization dates from 1890, and is regarded by 
the people of the Province as having furthered the progress in edu- 
cation more largely than any other agency. With its activities it has 
grown in membership from 7 to 31, one-third of whom in 1916 had 
served in various departments of practical educational work, and the 
remainder represented agriculture, the industries, and the profes- 
sions. The board touches practical education most closely in the 
following respects: 

1. It grants to teachers professional certificates, and has steadily 
raised the requirements therefor, culminating in the regulation ef- 
fective July 1, 1916, which requires candidates for normal school 
teacher training to have completed three years of high-school work, 
thus making the scholastic preparation of teachers identical with 
that required for entrance to other professional schools; by regula- 
tion of 1917 it decreed that no permanent license should be granted 
any teacher who is not a British subject by birth or naturalization, 
all others being allowed only an ad interim certificate valid for not 
more than six months, renewable for no longer period and requiring 
a special oath ; it further discontinued the authorization of school 
texts for bilingual teaching in the public schools. 

2. The board has charge of the courses of study of the public 
schools of all grades, and has steadily made more rigorous the com- 
bined course of study first adopted in 1913, which constituted a great 
step toward unifying educational interests in the Province by satis- 
fying the requirements of both the University Council and the Nor- 
mal School. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOFMElvT IN CANADA. 21 

CONSOLIDATION. 

The most conspicuous feature of education in the western Provinces 
is the consolidation of rural schools at convenient centers, a measure 
practically unknown in the eastern Provinces of the Dominion, but 
of very rapid growth in the Provinces which are under the educa- 
tional influence of the States of the American Union. The advan- 
tages incident to the consolidation of schools have from the first been 
thoroughly appreciated in Manitoba ; more and better teachers, mod- 
ern and hygienic buildings, possibilities of the beautifying of school 
grounds, largely increased enrollment, and in many places the at- 
tendance of practically all children of compulsory school age, instead 
of the deadening disadvantages of a number of inaccessible single- 
room schools. In 1917 eighty consolidations were in operation in 
Manitoba, covering a territory of one-tenth of the entire organized 
school area. 

Progress in the improvement of the health and sanitary conditions 
of the rural schools continues through the — 



organized campaign in which the Provincial Board of Health and the Depart- 
ment of Education are cooperating. In 1917 the board of health decided to 
employ a staff of expert nurses to operate in the rural districts. In all cases 
there has been harmonious and effective cooperation between teachers and 
nurses. * * * In 1917 sixteen rural schools undertook to provide hot 
lunches of some sort, and the people look upon it favorably and the trustees 
give assistance in equipment and materials. 

ATTENDANCE. 

The problem of school attendance is always one that looms large 
in education in rural sections. Manitoba has had for some years 
a legal supervisor of school attendance; and by a succession of acts 
respecting school attendance, culminating in the one of May, 1917, 
it has sought to improve the attendance on the elementary schools, 
though with the reluctance of a democratic people to prescribe gen- 
eral laws it has refrained from passing any provincial compulsory 
school attendance law. The last act provides for the appointment 
by school boards or municipal councils of a school attendance officer 
or officers, and sets forth their duties as well as those of school 
trustees, parents, guardians, teachers, and inspectors under the act, 
prescribing suitable penalties. The act has social as well as educa- 
tional import in its purpose of protecting children from neglect 
and of securing for them the benefit of an education. Attendance 
officers to the number of nearly 150 were appointed within the year 
following the passage of the act. 

TEACHERS. 

A large part of the credit for the vigor and the growth of the 
schools of the western Provinces is due to the unusual personnel 



22 BIENNIAL STIKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

of the teachers of the public schools. This is especially true of 
Manitoba. Here, as in the neighboring Provinces, the teachers are 
better paid than in the East, and they fill a larger place in the life 
of the people outside the schoolroom. As a consequence, there is 
every year a powerful draft upon the teaching force of the older 
Provinces. In the summer of 1918 an unprecedented demand was 
made upon the teachers of Manitoba by the Provinces still farther 
to the west, as shown by the publication of columns of advertise- 
ments, " Teachers wanted," appearing in the papers for perhaps the 
first time in the history of the Province. The greatest unrest ever 
seen in that body of course followed. 

HIGH SCHOOLS. 

As would be expected in a Province so progressive as Manitoba, 
the program of studies of the high schools has been under close 
scrutiny; and the Manitoba Educational Association has devoted 
much study to its reorganization and improvement. With the out- 
break of the war the need was felt for a readjustment of studies, 
The time required in foreign languages necessary for admission to 
the university was considered disproportionate, and the high-school 
committee attempted an arrangement of courses to give a fair pro- 
portion of time to each important subject. The university was there- 
fore asked to lower its language requirement from two foreign 
languages to one. After many conferences, the university council 
declined to grant the request. The issue is of course the one familiar 
in many countries under various names but with the same funda- 
mental problem of dispensing with the study of Latin. Of interest, 
too, in its bearing upon the preparation for the high school, as well 
as upon the number of pupils sent into it, is the tendency to unite the 
two highest elementary grades into one for convenience of teach- 
ing where teacher shortage is felt. It has been tested in various 
localities but has not commended itself in actual practice unless, as 
has been suggested, Grade VIII could be stiffened and the secondary 
school begun with it. 

THE UNIVERSITY. 

An interesting experiment was initiated in 1918 by the University 
of Manitoba, preliminary to its establishment of a department of 
commercial education. Eepresentatives were sent to the cities and 
towns of the Province to survey the possibilities offered for students 
in that branch, to analyze business conditions, local and general, and 
to examine methods of taxation and systems of licenses imposed by 
the various towns and municipalities. The report is awaited with 
great interest, as promising valuable information not only educa- 
tionally but economically and legally, 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 23 

The farthest reaching piece of legislation relative to higher edu- 
cation in the Dominion was enacted in 1917 by the assembly of 
Manitoba on the basis of the bill submitted by the minister of edu- 
cation, remodeling the constitution of the University of Manitoba, 
providing for a board of governors of nine members vested with full 
power over the financial affairs of the university and the final 
decision of all matters of academic policy; for a university council of 
27 members, a few more than one-third of the number of the old 
council, vested with general charge of courses and academic work; 
and for representation of the denominational colleges of the Province 
upon the council alone. Upon the appointment by the Government 
of the chancellor and the installation of the administrative authori- 
ties, the reorganized institution began a vigorous career, with the 
enthusiastic support of all the educational elements of the Province. 

SASKATCHEWAN . 

The democratic ideas just described in the case of Manitoba are 
even more pronounced in the Province just to the west, Saskatche- 
wan; but centralization more akin to that of the eastern Provinces 
has asserted itself in the public-school system of the latter. This 
centralization, however, has not lessened the deep popular interest 
in the schools. Perhaps the most convincing proof of this was the 
educational survey of the Province decreed by order in council 
and undertaken during the latter half of the year 1917. The public 
had been favorably prepared for this survey by the activities of 
the Public Education League, which had launched public meetings 
and led up to the proclamation of a public holiday by the premier, 
on which the needs of educational reform were emphasized at rallies 
held at a number of points. All this time there had been no lapse 
in public interest in education, as is shown by the fact that, since 
the organization of provincial government for Saskatchewan in 
1905, school districts had been organized at the extraordinary rate 
of one a day. 

With the tremendous increase in the amount of routine work 
thus devolving upon the department of education, serious discus- 
sion arose as to whether the school unit with a board of three trus- 
tees was not too small, and whether the organization of boards of 
seven members, as for the municipalities, would not be better able 
to handle a much larger territory organized as a municipality. 
The matter is as yet unsettled, but indications are that an organic 
change will be brought about by the stirring of public interest. 

The progressive nature of the people and of the schools of 
Saskatchewan was well brought out in the findings of the survey 
to which reference has been made. The strongly centralized system, 



24 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION", 1916-1918. 

it was agreed, had been of great service in the early primitive days; 
but the findings bore out the belief that a system more adapted to a 
largely increased population and especially one giving considera- 
tion to local needs was now required. In the survey, as published 
in 1918, Dr. H. W. Foght, Director, thus summarized what he re- 
garded as the determining factors in the system : 

(1) The people of the Province have failed to use the schools as fully as they 
should have done. 

<2) The pevailing system of school organization and administration in 
rural districts particularly is no longer adequate for modern uses. 

(3) Abnormal opportunities in other occupations and other causes have con- 
spired to make it difficult to train and keep in the profession an adequate num- 
ber of well-prepared teachers. 

(4) The courses of study in elementary and secondary schools do not in all 
respects meet the demands of a democratic people occupied with the conquest 
of a great agricultural country. 

(5) The schools, in their internal organization, are planned less for the 
normal child than for the exceptional child, and offer slight opportunity for 
individual aptness and initiative. 

(6) The system of examinations in use is a questionable test of the average 
pupil's scholarship, ability, maturity, and fitness for advancement. 

(7) Bodily health and hygienic conditions in schools, so essential to effective 
study, have received little attention in the daily teaching, and are largely dis- 
regarded in the physical equipment of the schools. 

(8) The schools, while liberally maintained, must receive even larger sup- 
port in order that commensurate returns may be obtained on the school in- 
vestment. 

THE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE ACT. 

The School Attendance Act, which came into effect May 1, 1917. at 
once increased the enrollment and regularity of attendance of school 
children falling within the compulsory age from 7 to 14 years. By 
its provisions town districts appoint attendance officers who report to 
the department of education every month. In village and rural dis- 
tricts such duties are fulfilled by the teachers. As regards territories 
covered by the school act and length of school year, every town and 
village district, and every rural district with at least 12 children 
of compulsory age resident within 1J miles from the schoolhouse, 
shall offer at least 210 teaching days ; and every district with at least 
10 children of compulsory age shall offer at least 190 days. A most 
important phase of the act is that it provides for keeping systematic 
records of the population of compulsory age, which has hitherto not 
been legally required. 

School consolidation is also involved with provisions for attend- 
ance, an amendment to the act just mentioned made in 1917 giving 
the minister of education power at discretion to allow a larger area 
than 50 square miles to be included in the district served by consoli- 
dated schools, Very significantly, Saskatchewan has fallen far 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 25 

below its sister Provinces of Manitoba and Alberta in the progress 
shown in consolidation, though considerations of climate and to- 
pography made consolidation as necessary and as feasible as in either 
of the other two Provinces. 

Dr. Foght, in his summary, concludes that : 

Consolidation has made little progress in Saskatchewan because no provincial 
policy has yet been adopted extending Government grants and guidance to 
proposed consolidation districts. A belief that Saskatchewan is not yet ready 
for consolidation may have caused Government officials not to push the matter. 
No concerted policy has yet been adopted by the Government to encourage 
some particular form of consolidation. The 18 consolidations now in operation 
are due mainly to local initiative. 

SHORT-TERM SCHOOI>3. 

Another unfavorable phase is the existence of the so-called " short- 
term school," by which are meant rural schools opening in April or 
May and continuing from five to eight months. Such an arrange- 
ment plainly represents a compromise which, whatever may have 
been its original justification, has brought seriously grave disad- 
vantages in its train. These schools engage a new teacher each year 
and often change teachers two or even three times in the year. In 
many cases they can only obtain " permit " teachers because qualified 
teachers prefer schools that are in operation throughout the year. 
On this point the minister of education concludes : 

The consequence is that the children in these schools are backward in their 
studies, with thousands growing up who have never got beyond Grade IV, 
and unless action is taken at once these conditions will continue with the 
present generation poorly equipped for life's tasks. 

INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE. 

As agriculture is the predominant industry of the Province, prac- 
tically all interest in vocational and technical education for the past 
two years has centered in the furthering of agricultural education. 
The agricultural instruction committee in 1917 made the following 
recommendations to the Department of Education which, while 
the} 7 have not as yet become part of the official regulations, are prac- 
tically certain to be adopted at an early date : 

1. That agriculture and elementary science be compulsory for Third Class 
Part II of the teachers' course. 

2. That household science be an optional subject with music or manual train- 
ing for Third Class Part II of the teachers' course. 

3. That agriculture and general science be compulsory subjects for examina- 
tion instead of physics and chemistry for the second class teachers' diploma. 

4. That an annual maximum grant of $500 be made to such high schools as 
give adequate instruction in the course in agriculture as denned from time 



26 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

to time in the regulations of the department, the amount of such grant to be 
based upon the qualifications of the teachers, the nature of the equipment, and 
the efficiency of the teaching as reported upon by the inspector of high schools. 

Aside from the formal instruction in agriculture, a large part is 
played by the Rural Education Associations organized in the various 
districts and municipalities with the cooperation of inspectors and 
the general public. Such interest has been aroused in this movement 
that more than 40 local associations were organized during the year 
1917. They promote popular interest in education by means of school 
fairs, at which exhibits along all lines of country life are shown. 

TEACHEES. 

As in Manitoba, the personnel of the teachers of Saskatchewan is 
drawn largely from outside the Province, Ontario furnishing in 
1916 more than 30 per cent and Manitoba 28 per cent of the total. 
The number of young teachers is unusual, one-third of the rural 
teachers being below 21 years and over half ranging from 20 to 25 
years. In both of these facts grave disadvantages are evident. The 
present facilities to train teachers within the Province are entirely 
inadequate, and many hundred schools must be filled with provisional 
teachers, while very many others are below 21 years of age but hold 
permanent certificates. In the high schools, however, while the 
teachers are comparatively young, the average age being 32, the 
average of training and experience is unusually high. As Dr. Foght 
says: 

This combination of youthfulness and experience constitutes a very real asset 
for education in the Province, especially in view of the movement for better 
integration of the high schools and the grades, which will demand men and 
women who know intimately both elementary and secondary education. 

In the field of health promotion Saskatchewan has made a forward 
step in the organization of a division of the Department of Educa- 
tion in charge of a director of school hygiene. A vigorous campaign 
for the conservation and promotion of health has been initiated and 
a survey made of hygienic conditions in the rural schools. 

ALBERTA. 

In Alberta educational progress for the past two years has been 
steady, in spite of distracting conditions due to the war. Nat- 
urally, a falling off was seen in the average attendance of pupils, 
though an increase was seen in the case of girls. The secondary 
schools suffered from enlistment of the larger boys for overseas 
service; and for purposes of increased production large numbers of 
boys, and in some cases girls, were permitted to assist in farming 
operations, the school-attendance act being less rigorously enforced. 



EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 27 

The changed conditions brought about a different method of 
classification between graded and ungraded schools. Hitherto 
ungraded has meant rural, but many rural school districts now 
conduct graded schools, and as rural schools are more and more 
consolidated they pass from the list of ungraded to that of graded 
schools. 

A further interesting effect of the change is seen in the fac£ 
that the enrollment of pupils in the secondary grades is increasing 
much more rapidly than the total enrollment in the lower schools 
of the Province, the increase being from less than 3 per cent in 1906 
to nearly 6 per cent in 1916. Noteworthy also in its bearing upon 
the schools is the evidence of greater prosperity in the rural com- 
munities than in the town and village districts; this is shown by 
the fact that more than two-thirds of the money borrowed by 
school authorities according to the system of legal debentures was 
for the rural school districts. The distinctive feature of the finan- 
cial support of the schools of Alberta is constituted by the legally 
organized school debenture branch, under a manager appointed by 
the Premier, a very important part of whose work is to supervise 
school-building plans, contracts, and initial orders for equipment, to 
prescribe modern requirements of lighting, heating, and ventilation, 
and to approve all financial engagements made by local boards. 
To it is largely due the credit of having made Alberta, the newest of 
the western Provinces, widely known for the uniform excellence 
of its school buildings. 

THE SCHOOL ATTENDANCE ACT. 

Most important of the administrative acts pertaining to the 
schools was the passage of the amended and much strengthened 
School Attendance Act in 1916, which took the place of the old 
" Truancy " act, whose name and some of whose provisions had be- 
come distasteful. Attendance officers under this act in the cities 
and larger towns are responsible for its enforcement. In the rural 
and village districts enforcement is by means of a school attendance 
branch and the school inspectors, who are ex officio provincial at- 
tendance officers. In cases of unjustifiable nonattendance the new 
law provides that officials, after exhausting tactful measures with re- 
calcitrant parents or guardians, issue legal warning notices, serving 
them like other legal papers and allowing 10 days to elapse before 
the application of the law. Teachers also are required to carry out 
the provisions of the act especially by the inclusion of information 
bearing upon nonattendance in their monthly attendance reports. 

A serious difficulty was found, however, in the laxity with which 
local authorities excused attendance on various exceptions outlined 



28 BIENNIAL SURVEY OE EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

in the act, especially that stating that "the parent, guardian, or 
other person shall not be liable to any penalty imposed by this act 
in respect to the child if the child has attained the full age of 14 
years and is regularly employed during school hours in some useful 
occupation." Under this head, owing to the scarcity of farm labor, 
a great many boys missed the schooling which they should have 
had. Many inspectors, however, considering the harvesting and 
marketing of crops important as war measures, did not bring legal 
pressure to bear, being convinced that such nonattendance was 
a matter of necessity and not of neglect. 

CONSOLIDATION OF SCHOOLS. 

Consolidation of rural schools has proceeded steadily in Alberta, 
contributing also, by the wisdom of a number of inspectors, to the 
furthering of vocational and rural secondary education. This was 
initiated by a very progressive prevocational survey made by the 
Department of Education with a view of reaching primarily the 
country youth in their teens. To this end recommendations were 
made for distinctively rural schools in which a high-school course 
of two or three years, and closely adapted to local needs and condi- 
tions, should have the most prominent place. 

THE BILINGUAL SITUATION. 

The bilingual situation in Alberta has been discussed in connec- 
tion with that topic, as it applies to the Dominion of Canada. As 
regards the setting of this problem in the school system and adminis- 
tration of the Province, attention should again be called to the fact 
that Alberta alone has a special supervisor of schools for foreigners. 
This officer has been of the utmost advantage and usefulness in in- 
structing trustees, both lay and official, in their duties of putting 
and keeping the schools of foreigners in operation; in supervising 
the affairs of the districts; in harmonizing internal dissensions; in 
securing qualified teachers; in building teachers' houses in many 
places, and in general lending aid to the boards in remote localities, 
and in the management of financial affairs. A large part is also 
played by this official in spreading among the alien population ele- 
mentary ideas of sanitation and correct methods of living, which 
connects vitally with the projected system of medical inspection 
throughout the Province, which is likely to be made compulsory 
within a short time. 

TEACHEES' CODE OF HONOB. 

An interesting proof of the progressiveness of the teaching force 
of Alberta is furnished by the action (1918) of the Alberta Teachers' 



EDUCATIONAL, DEVELOPMENT IN CANADA. 29 

Alliance in promulgating the following code of honor for the guid- 
ance of the body: 

It shall be considered an unprofessional act — 

1. To disregard the validity of a formal contract with the school board. 

2. To criticize adversely, except in an official capacity, the efficiency of a 
fellow member of the alliance. 

3. To pass along rumors derogatory to a fellow member of the alliance, 
whether such rumors be based on fact or not. 

4. To seek professional advancement by any other than professional means. 

5. To seek employment with the school board (a) not in good standing with 
the alliance, (b) already having a member of the alliance under contract for 
the same position. 

6. To make known to nonmembers, except through authorized channels, the 
proceedings of a committee or general meeting of the alliance. 

BKITISH COLUMBIA. 

Educational interest in British Columbia has centered during the 
past two years in the extension of the work of the high schools irt 
such a way that the varied needs of different communities may be 
served; in so developing the work of the rural high schools as to 
adjust them to the life of agricultural communities, and especially to 
attract the farm boy into the high schools and there train him defi- 
nitely in agricultural science ; in providing nonprofessional training 
for teachers in elementary as well as high schools ; in spreading the 
appreciation of the need of physical exercises and organized play- 
ground sports; in effecting important changes in the high-school 
examinations whereby in cities of the first and second class exam- 
inations were waived and pupils were promoted to high schools on 
the recommendation of their principal, and second-year high-school 
pupils were promoted on that of their teachers. 

On the strictly administrative side, amendments were made to the 
public schools act of 1916 for the transition of assisted schools to the 
status of regularly organized school districts, for defining city school 
districts of various classes, for apportioning per capita grants of 
various amounts for cities of the various classes and for rural school 
districts, and for paying bonuses upon the salaries of teachers in the 
rural districts. Perhaps most noteworthy is the provision by which — 

where it appears that in any school district there are 20 or more persons 
of the age of 14 years and upwards desirous of obtaining instruction in techni- 
cal education, manual training, domestic science, commercial training, or in 
the ordinary branches of an English education, the board of school trustees 
may establish, under regulations issued by the council of public instruction, 
night schools for their benefit. 



30 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF JAMAICA. 

By Chaeles E. Asbuey, 
American Consul, Port Antonio, Jamaica. 



ORG A NIZ ATION . 



Jamaica is an island in the West Indies, and a British colony, with 
a population by the last census of 831,000, of whom over 95 per cent 
are of African descent, either in whole or in part. Fifty-three per 
cent of the population can read and write. In 1916-17 the average 
attendance at school was 62,000, or 1 of 12 population. With, a 
total expenditure by the Government of $6,000,000, only $420,000, or 
7 per cent, was spent for public education. This amounts to $6.75 
per head of average attendance and 55 cents per capita of population. 

The facilities for public instruction in Jamaica consist of public 
elementary schools in the towns and villages throughout the island, 
with a few private secondary schools in the chief centers. There are 
training schools for teachers which give advanced elementary in- 
struction, but there is no college in the colony. 

The schools are administered under a board of education for the 
colony, at the head of which is the director of education. The direc- 
tor has on his staff 11 inspectors, who are usually men from English 
universities. The Department of Education allots the funds appro- 
priated for educational purposes, and exercises advisory supervision 
over all the schools of the island. The governor in privy council re- 
tains final authority in all matters of educational legislation. 

A large majority of the public elementary schools are owned and 
managed by the various Protestant churches, and receive financial 
aid from the Government. At the last report there were 696 public 
elementary schools, of which the churches owned 566, the Govern- 
ment 111, and other organizations 19. The Department of Education 
maintains its control over the schools through its power of granting 
or withholding financial support. 

Each parish has its school board, and the schools in certain por- 
tions of the island have been grouped under district boards. These 
boards, however, have only such powers and duties as the depart- 
ment may delegate to them, the immediate control of each school rest- 
ing in the hands of a manager, who represents the owners. The 
manager is advised by a local board, but he has authority to make 
final decisions, employ teachers, provide equipment, and inspect the 
schools, and in most ways, he actually directs the policy of the school. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OE JAMAICA. 31 

GRANTS, SUBSIDIES, ETC. 

The appropriations for education are distributed among the schools 
by the department through an elaborate system of " grants," paid to 
the school managers in monthly installments. An average attend- 
ance of 30 or more is necessary to secure a grant. The amount of the 
grant is determined by the average attendance and the " marks " or 
rating given the school at a formal annual inspection. A perfect 
rating consists of 84 marks. If the average attendance is 60 or 
more, a grant is made of $4.86 for each mark. If less than 60, $3.65 
is granted for each mark, and 2 cents in addition for each unit of 
average attendance. If the average is over 50 but under TO, an ad- 
ditional $1.45 is paid for each unit of attendance above 50. If the 
average is over 70, $2.90 is paid for each surplus unit of attendance, 
in addition to the $1.45 for the units from 50 to TO. All these grants 
are to be applied to the salaries of the teachers. Additional small 
grants are made for teaching industrial subjects. 

The department makes limited grants to assist in erecting or re- 
pairing school buildings and teachers' cottages. In no case can this 
grant exceed $486 for a school, or $243 for a cottage, or one-half the 
total cost of the project. The average annual grant for buildings is 
approximately $2,500. The building must be located on at least 
one- fourth acre, and must be occupied as a public school or teachers' 
dwelling for at least 12 years after the grant is made. All school 
sites and building plans must have the department's approval. 
Where a Government school is located in a building owned entirely 
by private persons, a nominal yearly rental of 36 cents is granted 
for each unit of average attendance. There are also small grants 
for supplies, library" books, sewing materials, sanitation, garden 
fences, etc. These .amount to only a few cents per unit of average 
attendance. 

TEACHERS. 

All teachers in the public schools are registered by the department, 
and are classified on the basis of training and rank in examination. 
They must be 18 years of age or over, and must have had at least 
one year in a teachers' training school or have passed the third year 
pupil-teacher's examination. Teachers are classified as "principal 
teachers" if they are judged qualified to take charge of a school; 
as " assistant teachers " if not so qualified. The advancement of 
teachers depends upon their success in school and in examination, 
and the length of their experience. Certificates are issued upon a 
successful examination in the second or third year's course at a train- 
ing school. A principal teacher who has taught for 12 years, with 
inspection grade of " first class " for at least six years, is given a 



32 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

4k good service " certificate which has an important bearing upon the 
teacher's salary. A few teachers are registered as qualified for 
kindergarten work. They are required to have special training, and 
aspiring teachers are afforded an opportunity to secure this training, 
partly at Government expense. 

Each school ma}^ employ, in addition to the regular teachers 
described above, one or more pupil teachers. They must be between 
the ages of 14 and 17, and are required to pass an examination. They 
must execute a three years' contract, and are paid a small wage. 
Pupil teachers are entitled to receive three hours' extra instruction 
per week from the principal teacher, outside of school hours. Upon 
passing an examination after three years' service as a pupil teacher, 
the candidate is entitled to registration as an assistant teacher, and 
is eligible for employment. A few pupils who have completed the 
elementary course and are unable to continue their education in a 
private secondary school are allowed to attend the elementary schools 
and act as monitors, with the privilege of attending the pupil- 
teachers' classes. 

The training schools for teachers continue the essentially English 
idea of education — a matter of private initiative and Government 
subsidy. Any school with proper equipment which follows an ap- 
proved course of study may seek recognition as a training school for 
teachers. Some of the requirements are the pupil-teachers's exami- 
nation for entrance, his being of the minimum age of IT years, and 
pursuing a three years' course, and the maintenance of an elementary 
practice school, which in turn may be a " Government grant " school. 
To each recognized training school the Government makes a grant 
of $120 per year for the board and instruction of each regularly 
admitted student, with a bonus of $50 for each one that passes the 
annual examination, provided that the total grant does not exceed 
four-fifths of the total cost of maintaining the school. Religious 
interest or philanthropy is expected to supply the remainder. 

Before students are admitted to the training schools, the} 7 must make 
an agreement, supported by a bond, to teach for six years in the 
Jamaica schools. For each year of failure to fulfill this promise, 
the student becomes liable to the Government for the sixth part of 
the cost of his training. 

The training school scheme has not been found a great success. 
The Government has been compelled to establish two training schools 
of its own, in addition to the subsidized ones, in order to keep up the 
supply of teachers. There are at present about 500 certified teachers 
in the colony, with 114 students in the training schools run by the 
Government, and 26 in the schools under subsidy. 

In the training schools, as in all other Jamaican schools, the course 
of study is determined by the subjects on the final examination. 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF JAMAICA. 33 

These examinations are given at the close of each year's work, and 
include the following subjects : Eeading and recitation, writing, Eng- 
lish, arithmetic, algebra, school management, scripture and morals, 
geography, history, science — general and agricultural, physiology 
and hygiene, geometry, vocal music, drawing, and manual training 
for men, or domestic science for women. A grade of 50 per cent is 
required for passing in the first six subjects, and 33 per cent in the 
others. In addition to the regular training course, a brief agri- 
cultural, technical, or kindergarten course may be given and the 
attendance of teachers permitted or required, with a portion of their 
expenses borne by the Government. 

The salaries of teachers are at present determined by the system 
of grants and marks mentioned above, based upon the rating of 
their school at the annual inspection. A radical change in the 
system was made recently, to go into effect April 1, 1919. Hereafter 
the determining factor is to be the average attendance of the 
school, with the teacher's rank and success record taken into consid- 
eration. The present minimum of $90 per year for assistant teachers 
will be retained, but salaries will average about $200 per annum, 
with a maximum of $875 for the head masters of the larger schools. 
All extra grants and bonuses will be discontinued. This change 
has been suspended, however, owing to lack of funds to put it into 
operation. 

Teachers are employed by the manager of the school under writ- 
ten contract, subject to the approval of the department, The con- 
tract may be terminated at any time by either party after three 
months' notice, and every vacancy must be advertised. 

SUPERVISION AND ADMINISTRATION. 

All superintending is in the hands of the 11 inspectors attached 
to the Department of Education. They receive salaries of from 
$730 to $1,215 per annum, with traveling expenses. Provision has 
recently been made for raising the pay of inspectors to $972 and 
$1,458, and creating two new positions of " chief inspector," with 
salaries of from $1,458 to $1,700. The intention is to appoint only 
graduates of English universities to these positions. 

Every school in Jamaica which receives Government grants and 
offers an elementary course of instruction is a public elementary 
school. All pupils may attend who care to do so, provided they are 
eligible under the law and accommodations are adequate. No tui- 
tion may be charged. New schools are established upon application 
to the board of education, which in turn submits the proposition 
to every minister of religion within a radius of 4 miles from the 
129488°— 19- 3 



34 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

proposed location. If the department decides that the school is 
necessary, and that all requirements have been met, it may grant 
a lump sum for the first year and permit the school to be opened. 

Schools must be in session four days, per week, mornings and 
afternoons, and in certain towns one-half day in addition. Each 
day's session lasts five hours. A minimum of 28 half -day sessions 
per month and 288 per annum is required. Holiday periods must 
be approved by the department, and usually differ widely in the 
several schools. 

The board of education has authority to make attendance at 
school compulsory, but so far the law has been made effective only 
in three towns of the island. The president of the Jamaica Teachers' 
Union states that there are from eighty to ninety thousand children 
in the island who do not attend school. The question of extending 
the compulsory attendance law over the entire island is being con- 
stantly agitated, but it is improbable that any change will be made 
under the present economic conditions. Objection is also made to 
the provision of law which compels a pupil to withdraw from school 
at 14. Unless he has completed the elementary course by that time, 
he is deprived of any further opportunity to do so. 

The teacher is required to keep an elaborate set of records, includ- 
ing admission book, register of attendance, log book, stock book of 
materials, account book, pupil-teachers' record book, and garden 
book. The log book is Yeiy interesting. It is a sort of alary of the 
school, in which is recorded day by day every event of importance. 
It also contains the record and recommendations of the annual 
inspections. Before a teacher may administer corporal punishment, 
he must be authorized to do so by the manager, and the authority 
must be written out in the log book. 

CURRICULUM AND COURSES. 

The curriculum of the public elementary school is based entirely 
upon the subjects for examination at the annual inspection, and the 
entire time and attendance of teacher and scholars are devoted to 
preparation for that event. The inspection lasts only one day, and 
in that time the inspector examines all the pupils on the whole cur- 
riculum and determines the rank of the school and the standing of 
the teacher. The highest rank attainable is " 84 marks," distributed 
as follows: Organization, 6; discipline, 6: reading and recitation, 15; 
writing and English composition, 15 ; arithmetic, mental and writ- 
ten, 15 ; elementary science, especially agricultural, 8 ; Scripture and 
morals, 5 ; drawing and manual occupations, 6 ; geography with 
incidental history, 4 ; singing and drill, 4 ; total, 84. A school which 
attains 56 marks or more, with a grade of not less than two-thirds of 



PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM OF JAMAICA. 35 

the possible marks in the fundamental subjects and one-third in the 
others, is ranked as of the first class. Others rank second or third 
class according to their marks. 

The elementary course is graded into seven standards, each sup- 
posed to represent one year's work of a normal child. The lowest 
standard is called the " junior," and the others are numbered con- 
secutively from I to VI. The work of the sixth standard is not essen- 
tial for entrance to a secondary school, and is given only in the larger 
schools corresponding to our " graded " schools. In the smaller 
schools the standards are grouped into three divisions, lower, middle, 
and upper, with arrangements for covering all the course by a system 
of two courses of study to be given in alternate years. 

It would appear from the list of studies that the curriculum is 
much the same as that of the average American school. The instruc- 
tion, however, is radically different. There is much more emphasis 
in the Jamaica school upon the purely mechanical exercises, such as 
reciting memorized poems, writing from dictation, drawing and 
penmanship. There is an almost total absence of quiet seat work and 
study. The first impression of a Jamaica school room is likely to 
be one of hopeless confusion. Each of the three divisions may be 
reciting at the same time, to the teacher, the assistant, and a pupil- 
teacher. It is remarkable what good results are obtained, however, 
in some schools. 

Some difficulty has been experienced in the matter of religious 
instruction. Since the various churches own so many of the schools, 
they have insisted upon Bible teaching and the catechism in the cur- 
riculum. In order to meet the situation, the study of Scripture and 
morals is included, but teachers are enjoined from commenting except 
in the way of pointing out an obvious and universally recognized 
lesson. In addition, a conscience clause has been enacted by which 
pupils who so desire are excused from school during the Scripture 
hour, which must be at the beginning or close of a session. 

INDUSTRIAL AND TECHNICAL TRAINING. 

Some real progress has been made in industrial instruction, but 
the work is greatly handicapped for lack of funds and of competent 
instructors. A Government technical school was established in 
Kingston in 1896. Here pupils from the Kingston elementary 
schools receive instruction in manual training and household indus- 
tries. The school also conducts continuation evening classes for 
both sexes. The work is purely elementary, and its limited scope 
is indicated by the fact that the head master is also the manual train- 
ing instructor of the principal teachers' college and organization 
inspector of manual training for the whole island, having direct 



36 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

supervision over all the manual training work. There are six ad- 
ditional teachers for day classes and six for the continuation school. 
Provision is made for regular work in manual training, gardening, 
and "housewifery" in other schools where suitable teachers and 
equipment can be obtained. The manual training course is for the 
boys of the upper division and consists , entirely of mechanical 
drawing and simple woodwork. Small grants are made by the Gov- 
ernment for teachers and tools. 

There are about 400 school gardens in the island, but the instruc- 
tion in agriculture is very rudimentary. The department requires 
a plat of not less than one-tenth acre, and assists in the construction 
of a fence and the purchase of tools. A small grant is also made to 
the teacher for garden instruction. All the pupils work in the 
garden, the boys by requirement and the girls by permission. The 
aim seems to be to use the plat chiefly for experimental purposes and 
for demonstration, rather than for practical crop results. 

All schools are required to teach plain sewing to the girls, and a 
few which have met the requirements as to equipment receive Gov- 
ernment aid for the teaching of cooking and laundering. There 
are a very few schools where practical domestic science is taught, 
but they are chiefly private secondary institutions. There is even 
in Jamaica a touch of the feeling that work is degrading and unbe- 
coming a scholar, and industrial work has been hampered accord- 
ingly. 

Nothing has been done in Jamaica in the way of supervised play- 
grounds. There is a little drill work occasionally, but the children 
play their own games in a half-hearted way. The effect is plainly 
seen in the poor physique of the children, and the absence of the 
wholesome democratic spirit which free, healthy play so much en- 



courages. 



SECONDARY INSTRUCTION. 



Secondary instruction has been left largely to private initiative 
and facilities are consequently limited. The Department of Educa- 
tion exercises some jurisdiction over the private secondary schools, 
however, and is gradually extending its control. Scholarships are 
provided from public funds to the total amount of $1,360 annually 
for deserving pupils who desire to continue their education above 
the elementary course. These scholarships pay the hollers from $50 
to $120 annually for two years. They are distributed by competi- 
tive examination to applicants who must be under 12 years of age. 
Holders are expected to pass the Cambridge secondary examin- 
ations in order to retain their places. These examinations were 
introduced in the colony in 1882 by the Jamaica Institute, a semi- 
public institution. In 1916 there were 471 candidates for the several 



EDUCATION IN AUSTKALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 37 

grades of the examinations, of whom 60 per cent were successful. 
The scope of these examinations largely determines the curriculum 
of the secondary schools. They cover Latin, French, algebra and 
geometry, English history, geography, English composition, gram- 
mar and literature, and Scripture. The scope of each examination is 
announced in advance, and the year's work is arranged especially to 
meet the examination requirements. 

The only secondary technical instruction offered by the Govern- 
ment is in the form of trade scholarships to winners of a competitive 
examination who agree to apprentice themselves to a master work- 
man in their chosen trade for a period of years. During the first two 
years of the apprenticeship, the students are given instruction in 
the Kingston Technical School at the expense of the Government. 
A grant is made to cover the cost of their board and clothes during 
the apprenticeship, and to provide them with kits of tools when 
they complete it. The maximum number of students provided for 
at any one time is 25, 

Legislative provision has been made for grants to continuation 
schools for working boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 17, 
but so far Kingston is the only community to take advantage of it, 
The law provides for a course of 26 weeks of 3J hours per week, with 
instruction in English, arithmetic, Scripture, and home economics, 
manual training, or agriculture. A movement is on foot to obtain 
more substantial Government aid for these schools so that the crying 
need for elementary instruction for the boys and girls above 14 may 
be met. 

There is a healthful dissatisfaction with the present system among 
the progressive element, which promises to become strong enough 
ultimately to secure good schools, adequately equipped, with strong 
emphasis on industrial and vocational education. 



RECENT PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW 

ZEALAND. 

By Theresa Bach, 
Division of Foreign Educational Systems, Bureau of Education. 



GENERAL FEATURES. 



The Commonwealth of Australia comprises the States of New 
South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Aus- 
tralia, and Tasmania. Each State has developed its own system of 
education, controlled and supported by the State authorities. Pri- 
mary education is free in all the States and secondary education is 



38 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

free in some. Compulsory school attendance in most of the States is 
from 6 to 14 ; in New South Wales the compulsory period begins at 7. 

Every effort is made by the State authorities to reach the children 
in the sparsely settled centers. For this purpose the State establishes 
central schools in such localities where the children can be conven- 
iently conveyed to school free of charge, or provisional schools, i. e., 
small schools in which the attendance does not exceed 8 or 10. When 
the number of school children does not warrant the establishment of 
a provisional school, half-time schools are formed, the teacher visit- 
ing these schools on alternate days. In some places the teacher goes 
from house to house. In 1908 New South Wales inaugurated a 
" traveling " school, the teacher being provided with a tent for him- 
self and one to be used as a school. Two additional schools of the 
same kind have since been established. Other States have made 
similar arrangements. Often the State grants subsidies to a teacher 
engaged by two or more families ; the teacher must, however, be 
officially recognized by the Department of Education. In localities 
where no facilities can be found for either schoolroom accommoda- 
tion or board and lodging for a teacher, the children are reached by 
correspondence. This scheme seems to bring best results in homes 
where the parents or elder sisters or brothers can assist the young 
beginner. It has been successfully introduced in New South Wales, 
Victoria, and Tasmania. In Victoria the system was developed from 
the Teachers' College, and 120 isolated children were thus taught in 
June, 1917. 

Education in the Commonwealth is on the whole homogeneous. 
As each State developed independently, minor differences arose in 
the course of years. To make the work of the various departments 
more uniform and for the purpose of coordinating the school systems 
in the different States, the first conference of Australian directors 
of education was held in Adelaide in July, 1916. 

According to the ministerial report the following resolutions were 
passed : 

1. AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

(a) That nature-study work be developed with a view to increasing its use- 
fulness and making it of practical benefit to the children. 

(&) That agricultural education be developed and carefully organized. 

(c) That suitable schools be established in rural centers, so as to give, in 
addition to higher primary work, a direct practical training in subjects 
specially useful to rural workers ; e. g., for boys — woodwork, metal work, 
blacksmithing. simple building construction, land measurement, and agriculture; 
for girls — cookery, laundry, dairying, and smaller farming industries. 

(eZ) That for the largest centers of population agricultural schools be estab- 
lished for city boys who have completed the primary course and who desire to 
follow agricultural pursuits ; such schools to act as feeders to the agricultural 
colleges. 



EDUCATION IN AITSTKALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 39 

(e) That it is desirable that some method be adopted to coordinate the work 
of the various State authorities, dealing- with various phases of agricultural 
education. 

2. CONTINUATION PESIOD OF EDUCATION. 

1. That as far as practicable provision should be made for the continuous 
education of boys and girls beyond the primary standard of instruction, and 
that this education should include both a specific training for citizenship and 
courses of instruction preparatory for various classes of future occupations. 

2. That legislation is desirable to provide for such continued education, both 
full time and part time, in daylight hours; and, further, to provide that it be 
obligatory upon all boys up to the age of 16 to receive such continued education, 
either whole time or part time, where facilities for the purpose are provided. 

3. That while facilities for similar continued education should be made 
available for girls, their attendance for the present should rest on a voluntary 
basis. 

3. INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION. 

1. That instruction in craftsmanship be in two grades : 

(a) Preparatory. — To be given in full-time day schools in continuation of the 
primary-school course, and that the courses of such schools include such in- 
struction combined with hand training as will provide a preparation for more 
specialized trade training. 

(&) Technical schools for instruction of persons (i) Actually engaged in a 
skilled trade, in order to supplement bv school instruction the training gained 
in the practice of the trade; (ii) But it is desirable that instruction in such 
schools be arranged in daylight hours. 

2. That the State and Commonwealth Governments be invited to give a 
lead to other employers by requiring the attendance of their young employees, 
during working hours, at suitable technical classes. 

4. COMMERCIAL EDUCATION. 

1. That in view of conditions likely to prevail after the war, attention be 
given to the provision of commercial education. 

2. That provision be made in the courses of study of secondary schools of 
both lower and higher type for a commercial group of subjects in those States 
in which this provision has not already been made. 

3. That for those who have left school and have entered upon commercial 
callings, suitable evening courses in the State educational establishments be 
instituted, and arrangements be made by which these courses shall lead up to 
the university school of commerce. 

4. That arrangements be made whereby one or two universities should pro- 
vide the instruction on some reciprocal plan to be determined upon by consul- 
tation among all universities of the Commonwealth. 

Of interest are the resolutions with regard to arrangements for 
education in adjoining States of children living in border States. 
These read: 

(a) That children living on the borders of a State be given every facility 
for attending school in the neighboring State if there is no school near them 
in their own State. 

(Z>) That the department, when dealing with questions of establishment of 
new schools on the borders of States, take into consideration the total number 
of children in the district on each side of the border. 



40 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 



(c) That there is no need for any financial adjustment in respect to this ar- 
rangement, as the benefits to the States are fairly equally divided. 

(d) That a review of the border schools be made as soon as practicable, with 
a view to improving existing conditions. 

Tlie conference also passed a resolution that the school certificate 
of one State be recognized by another State, and finally that " there 
be cooperation between the States in the matter of training of 

specialist teachers." 

workers' tutorial classes. 

An interesting development in the education of the working circles 
is the inauguration of the Workers' Tutorial Classes, an organiza- 
tion somewhat akin to the extension lectures. The scheme was 
launched in 1913 in connection with the formation of the Workers' 
Educational Association. 

The Workers' Tutorial Classes exist at present in all the States. 
Although controlled by the university, they receive Government 
grants (except in Western Australia) ranging from $1,500 in Vic- 
toria to $25,000 in New South Wales. The aim of these classes is 
to bring the university into closer relation with the working men. 
The principal subjects offered are industrial history, economics, po- 
litical science, and sociology. The entire course extends over three 
years. The students' reading is supplemented by class discussions, 
and by writing an essay on subjects dealing with some phase of 
economics, civics, and sociology. 

Tutorial classes have been formed at the universities as well as in 
suburban and country centers. 

GERMAN SCHOOLS IN AUSTRALIA. 

A number of private schools were conducted by German teachers 
in several States of the Commonwealth prior to the war. In South 
Australia 52 schools were under the control of the Lutheran Church, 
and the language of instruction was exclusively German. The edu- 
cation act of 1915 provided that teaching in these schools should be 
through the medium of English for at least four hours a day. The 
education amendment act of 1916 modified this law to the effect that 
the Government should take over all the Lutheran schools and that 
no language but English should be spoken in the schools. The use 
of German as the language of instruction is prohibited in all the 
States of the Commonwealth. 

TRAINING OF RETUENED SOLDIERS. 

The Department of Repatriation has been created in the Common- 
wealth for the purpose of replacing the returned soldiers in civil 
life. An officer of the department meets the transports at the port 



EDUCATION IN ATJSTKALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 41 

of disembarkation and places before the men the facilities provided 
by the State. It has been proposed to provide workshops in leather 
work, basket-making, raffia work, and toy making for the convales- 
cent men who are still in hospital. The proposed workshops are to 
be under the control of the military authorities. 

The Department of Education in each State offers free tuition 
to returned men in all the technical colleges ; responsibility of find- 
ing employment for those who had finished their training rests with 
the Government. 

THE TRAINING OF TEACHEKg. 

The training of teachers received considerable attention on the 
part of educational authorities. With the institution by the States 
of a wider high-school system and greater facilities for the study 
of the subjects relating to education at the universities a marked 
improvement was effected in the training of teachers. In recent 
years definite progress in that direction was made in the States of 
Victoria and Tasmania. 

In Tasmania the new scheme of teachers' training, put into opera- 
tion in January, 1918, lengthens the minimum period of training 
from 15 weeks to 6 months and adds new requirements for the junior 
public examination. The new scheme provides four distinct courses 
according to the nature of the work which the applicant is to under- 
take. 

(a) A short course which aims to prepare teachers for provisional 
schools and the less important positions in the primary schools. It 
extends over six months. 

(b) Infant course designed for prospective teachers in infant and 
kindergarten schools. The course extends over one year. 

(c) Primary course designed to train teachers for the primary 
schools. The students must have completed two years of professional 
training in a State high school and have qualified for matriculation 
before entering the training college. The course extends over one 
year. 

(d) Secondary course designed to train teachers for the secondary 
schools. It is open to promising students who have satisfactorily 
completed the primary course. The length of study is one to two 
years, in addition to the year spent in the primary course. 

Before appointment the prospective teachers enter into agreement 
with the school authorities to serve the department for a certain 
length of time, which varies from two to five years, according to the 
expense and length of the course they have pursued. 

A similar scheme for the training of teachers was put into opera- 
tion somewhat earlier in Victoria. Instead of one course, leading to 
the trained teachers' certificate, four courses have been provided, 
namely, a secondary, a primary, an infant, and a short course for 



42 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

teachers of small rural schools. Under a correspondence system rural 
teachers may receive further instruction by corresponding with the 
Melbourne High School. Similar arrangements are also made at 
the Teachers' College for country teachers who are studying for an 
infant teacher's certificate. 

The training of teachers has been further greatly promoted by the 
courses on education recently introduced in some of the Australian 
universities; for instance, a lectureship on education has been in- 
augurated at the university of Tasmania. At the university of 
Western Australia education may be offered as a subject for a degree 
in arts; arrangements have also been made for a postgraduate di- 
ploma of education. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

The spread of technical education continues in all the States of the 
Commonwealth. In recent years noteworthy measures for the pur- 
pose of reorganizing the technical schools have been taken in Xew 
South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania. 

In New South Wales a scheme was evolved whereby the system of 
the workshop was coordinated with that of the technical school and 
college. Two main courses of instruction have been established: (a) 
Trade courses for apprentices and (b) higher courses for students 
desiring to pursue their studies in the various trades and professions. 
An important feature in the new scheme is the regulation regard- 
ing admission. JSTo student is admitted to any course unless evidence 
is furnished that he possesses sufficient preparatory knowledge to 
benefit by the training. An exception is made in the higher diploma 
course in science, which is open to students irrespective of occupa- 
tion. The trades courses are divided into two parts; the lower 
courses, covering a period of three years in the trades schools, and 
the higher, extending over two years in the technical colleges. A 
trade school leaving certificate admits the student without further 
examination to a technical college and thence to the university. The 
primary technical school is thus linked with the highest institution 
of learning. 

In 1916 there were three technical colleges in the main industrial 
centers, and 10 trades schools in suburban and country districts: 
classes in elementary technical instruction were held in various 
smaller localities. 

The measures regarding apprenticeship inaugurated in Xew 
South Wales in 1914 were introduced a few years later in South 
Australia. The technical education of apprentices act. passed by 
the legislature in 1917, provides for the appointment of an appren- 
tices advisory board, with the view of changing the whole 
of apprenticeship. The chief provision of the act requires that 



EDUCATION IN AUSTEALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 43 

each indentured apprentice,, during the first three years of his ap- 
prenticeship, may be compelled to attend suitable technical classes 
for six hours per week for 40 weeks per year. Four of these hours 
shall be during the working hours and two in the evening. 

In Tasmania a commission was appointed in 1916 for the purpose 
of developing technical education, and bringing the existing tech- 
nical schools into proper relation with the primary and secondary 
schools. 

As a result of the commission's recommendations a technical 
branch in charge of the organizing inspector was created in the 
Department of Education. Technical schools were reorganized and 
classified according to their courses as junior or senior technical 
schools. 

The junior technical schools aim to give prevocational training in 
industrial, commercial, and domestic subjects. The course extends 
over either two or three years and is free. The senior technical 
schools provide vocational training in industrial, commercial, art, 
and home-making subjects. The length of the courses varies from 
two to five years. Plans have been made for the opening of four 
junior technical schools in the immediate future. 

Progress in technical education has also been made in Victoria, 
where seven junior technical schools were opened recently. In 
Queensland the first trade preparatory classes were inaugurated in 
1917 and progress was so gratifying that the scheme will undoubt- 
edly lead to the establishment of a comprehensive system of appren- 
ticeship. 

An interesting feature of the technical education is the setting 
up of advisory committees consisting of representatives nominated 
by employers' and employees' associations. These committees are 
formed for each subject or group of subjects offered in the technical 
schools. The duty of the advisory committees is to visit classes and 
inspect the work of the students. They may also advise on the 
scope and detail of the syllabus. 

The following special features developed in recent years in the 
various States are of interest: 

NEW SOUTH WALES. 

Public instruction (amendment) act, 1916. — This act contains im- 
portant provisions regarding compulsory school attendance, the cer- 
tification of private schools, and the inspection of school premises. 
Compulsory school attendance is provided for children between the 
ages of 7 and 14, the lower age limit being raised from 6 to 7. 
Exemption is granted to children receiving instruction at home on 
at least 85 days in each half year. To comply with the new regu- 



44 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

lations children must be sent to schools certified by the department 
as efficient. Hitherto the department exercised no supervision over 
private schools except those that applied for registration under the 
bursary endowment act. This act, passed by the Parliament in 1912, 
provides bursaries for students in public or private secondary 
schools and in the University of Sydney. Private schools desiring 
the benefit under the act must register and comply with the de- 
partment regulations with regard to premises, the organization and 
equipment of the school, the method and range of instruction, and 
efficiency of the teaching staff. Fees in the primary schools were 
abolished in 1906, in high schools in 1911. Since 1916 textbooks 
and materials have been provided free. In recent years great prog- 
ress has been made in secondary education. The number of high 
schools has increased from 5 in 1910 to 22 (including 3 interme- 
diate) in 1916; the average quarterly enrollment has risen from 894 
to 5,330, and the cost per scholar from about $35 to $105. 

Higher education is fostered by a system of public exhibitions 
which include the cost of matriculation, tuition, and degree fees. To 
cover the increased cost of the exhibitions the statutory endowment 
fund was increased by £10,000 per annum under the provisions of the 
amending act of 1916. By the same act £2,000 were assigned for the 
establishment of a chair of architecture at the University of Sydney. 

The Government aid received by the University of Sydney during 
the year 1916 amounted to £54,592. The teaching staff consisted of 23 
professors, 7 assistant professors, and 122 lecturers and demon- 
strators. There were also on the university staff 8 honorary lecturers 
and demonstrators. The number of students attending lectures dur- 
ing 1916 was 1,660, including 500 women. 

VICTORIA. 

Education of women. — The Council of Public Education, appointed 
to advise on educational matters, submitted in its report for 1917-18 
the following data on education of women. The council pointed out 
that in view of the fact that compulsory education ends at 14, and 
girls are not permitted to work in a factory until the age of 15, much 
valuable time is wasted. The council proposes, therefore, to extend 
compulsory education of girls until the age of 15. It suggests that 
during the impressionable years of the girl's life she should be taught 
in special schools by women teachers. The curriculum in these 
schools should embrace cultural as well as practical subjects. The 
subjects proposed by the committee include English, mathematics, 
geography, history and civics, hygiene, and music, also instruction in 
simple cookery, needlework, and laundry work. Practical work 
should not occupy more than one-third of the time during the first 



EDUCATION IN ATJSTKALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 45 

year, but should be extended to one-half of the time during the final 
year. 

As regards secondary education the council found that " at present 
the course of work followed is very largely determined by prescribed 
entrance examinations to the university." This should be changed. 
Instead of a prescribed course of study, alternative courses should 
be instituted for girls who do not contemplate a university course. 
Courses in art and music should be introduced in the school curric- 
ulum and given the same credit as those in literature and mathe- 
matics. 

The general practice in the secondary school — with boys as well as girls — is 
to look upon art as something like an excrescence ; it is dubbed an " extra," 
and is not considered worthy of a recognized place in the curriculum. This 
should be corrected. 

The girl who leaves the primary school, and, more particularly, the older 
girl who leaves the secondary school, should do so with, at least, the beginnings 
of a cultivated taste. Mere literacy studies, however important, will not do 
this. The critical artistic faculty need cultivation as well, and as much as any 
other. Study should not stop short at the ability to express form and color, 
but should, by the application of form and color -to decoration and design, and 
its expression in dress, architecture, and furniture, cultivate an appreciation 
of tasteful and appropriate surroundings — matters that are far too important 
to be left to the tender mercies of the dressmaker or the furniture ware- 
houseman. Liking and disliking should have a basis in knowledge and culture, 
and not in ignorant whim and caprice. 

Industrial training for women should be greatly extended. Junior 
technical schools for girls desiring to enter the industrial field 
should be preparatory to the courses in technical schools which in 
Victoria are open to women. Greater facilities should also be 
afforded to girls who wish to enter upon a commercial career. 

Finally, the council lays stress on the moral and physical education 
which should be cultivated in girls' schools on a larger scale. 

QUEENSLAND. 

Vocational education came under the control of the Government 
in 1908 and has since been steadily growing. Among the most 
recent developments are the opening of a trade school for apprentices 
and the extension of instruction in domestic science and agricul- 
ture. In 1917 a scheme was launched to provide classes in domestic 
science in the sparsely populated centers. This is done by means 
of itinerant teachers. The traveling instructors are provided with 
portable structures which are used when erected as domestic science 
classes. The course is outlined for the period of six months. 

A report on agricultural education in Queensland was issued in 
1917 by a special investigating committee appointed by the under- 
secretary of public instruction. The committee advocated the in- 
troduction of agricultural education along the following lines : 



46 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Agriculture should be a matter for the State rather than the indi- 
vidual. In primary schools gardening and tree planting on a small 
scale should be encouraged, also nature study and observation. More 
rural schools with an elementary program on agriculture should be 
opened by the Government. In secondary schools provision should 
be made for the study of agricultural subjects. These schools should 
lead directly to agricultural colleges, which in turn should be 
affiliated with the university. A department of agriculture under 
the faculty of science was also recommended. 

The first rural school was opened in Queensland in January, 1917. 
The curriculum is practical. It is designed to equip the boys and 
girls with knowledge suited to the requirements of those who live 
on the land. 

Agricultural instruction has also been introduced by the depart- 
ment in the primary schools, where milk and cream testing is a part 
of the curriculum. 

WESTEKN AUSTRALIA. 

In Western Australia every effort is made to reach the children in 
the sparsely populated areas. Until recently a full time Government 
school was established in any locality where a regular attendance of 
not less than 10 children between the ages of 6 and 14 was assured. 
If the attendance fell below, the school was closed, The parents 
were then urged to engage a private instructor, the Department of 
Education sharing the expenses. The new regulation, issued in 191G, 
increases the school facilities by providing that the average attend- 
ance for a period of six months must fall below eight before the 
school can be closed. The report of the Education Department for 
1917 shows that 646 primary schools were in operation during that 
year. Of these, 35 new schools were opened in 1917, 11, which 
had previously been closed, were reopened, and 7 were closed during* 
the year. Of the 646 schools, 341 had an average attendance be- 
low 20. 

The practice of the department can be readily understood when it 
is borne in mind that the population of the State consists of 320,000 
inhabitants scattered over an area of about 1,000,000 square miles. 
The problem of the small country schools in Western Australia is 
very pressing. 

Endeavors are being made by the school authorities to bring the 
country child in closer touch with his surrounding. Courses in ele- 
mentary science have been recently introduced in these schools, and 
experiments in the growing of vegetables, culture of flowers, and 
the elementary agriculture carried on in the school gardens. The 
teachers receive much assistance by way of departmental publica- 



EDUCATION IN AUSTEALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 47 

tions and outlines in lessons dealing with the elements of agricul- 
tural science. In this work the Department of Education is greatly 
assisted by the agricultural department of the university and by 
the commissioner of agriculture. The training college is also devot- 
ing special attention to the work of prospective teachers in small 
country districts. 

From time to time short courses for teachers extending over a 
fortnight are held in centers where the neighboring teachers can 
easily attend these lectures. The courses are conducted by school 
inspectors. 

District high schools have been recently established in several 
localities. In addition to the general subjects, the curriculum pro- 
vides for a science course with direct bearing upon agriculture. The 
high schools are not free, but a system of scholarships enables prom- 
ising country children to avail themselves of a secondary education. 

SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 

School committees. — A new departure in the school system in this 
State is the inauguration of school committees. These committees, 
represented by the parents of the pupils, take a personal interest in 
the school of their district. Extensive improvements have been thus 
introduced. Although the school committees have no voice in school 
administration, they render valuable assistance in other matters per- 
taining to school. Classrooms have been decorated with proper pic- 
tures, libraries stocked with suitable books, school premises kept in 
proper shape, and trees planted on school grounds ; not infrequently 
parents and teachers come together and a meeting is arranged for 
the purpose of discussing the various needs of their school. Com- 
menting on the work of the committees, the director of education 
says: 

The substitution of school committees in place of boards of advice marks a 
distinct educational advance. A committee, having only its own school to 
care for, acquires a sense of ownership, with corresponding interest. 

In many places money has been raised and expended on improvements. Quite 
a number of schools have been supplied with pianos in this way. Altogether, 
thousands of pounds have been saved to the State by good citizens who have 
determined that their school, at any rate, shall not be in need of the help that 
they can give. 

Valuable as this is, I regard as of even greater importance the development 
of public spirit and personal interest — our school, no longer the school. 

By and by, perhaps, we shall have this interest so extended that no parent 
will pass the school without looking in and looking on for a few minutes. The 
parent has as much interest in the school as has the scholar, since upon it 
depends much of the future of the child. He should know what is being taught, 
and how. 



48 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 



NEW ZEALAND. 

INTRODUCTION. 



The war had seemingly little effect on the progress of education in 
New Zealand. Although 650 primary-school teachers were in active 
service at the beginning of 1917, and there were hardly any physically 
fit men teachers left in the entire school system, the minister of 
education says in his report for 1916 that " not only have the various 
administrative, educational, and social agencies of the department 
been kept up to the regular standard of efficiency, but a substantial 
amount of progress has been made, which even in normal times 
would justly be regarded with satisfaction." 

Among the notable changes the report mentions the following: 
The raising of the standard of requirements for the certificate of 
proficiency; the granting of free places in technical schools for 
holders of certificates of competency (the latter certificates were 
issued to pupils who were unable to obtain the higher certificate of 
proficiency, but who showed special aptitude in manual subjects) ; 
the inauguration of a grading scheme for the classification of teach- 
ers ; the extension of medical inspection ; and a more liberal allowance 
for kindergarten schools. 

According to the latest report of the minister of education the 
number of public schools in 1917 was 2,368, with an average attend- 
ance of 168,711, as against 2,355 in 1916, with an average attendance 
of 163,156. 

The total expenditure of the Department of Education for the year 
1917-18 was £1,809,187, an increase of £119,480 over the expenditure 
for the previous year. Of the total expenditure, 75 per cent was on 
primary education, 12 per cent on secondary education (including 
technical high schools), 4 per cent on university education, 3 per 
cent on industrial and special schools, 4 per cent on technical edu- 
cation, and 2 per cent on teachers' superannuation and miscellaneous 



charges. 



KETAEDATION OF PUPILS. 



The question of retardation of pupils received a great deal of 
attention. Statistics show that the average percentage of retarda- 
tion in standards 1 to 6, inclusive, is 19; the highest percentage is 
24 in standard 3. The causes of this retardation are delayed school 
entrance, mental or physical defects of pupils, and transfer of pupils 
from one school to another. For the purpose of reducing this wast- 
age of time, special classes for the care of backward children are to 
be established in all large schools. It is hoped that a number of 
children receiving special training for a longer or shorter period will 
make greater progress and ultimately join the classes with normal 
classification. 



EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 49 

Of all pupils entering standard 1, only 59 per cent finish the pri- 
mary course, and 41 per cent never reach standard 6. To enable the 
latter to receive some kind of industrial education a more elastic 
scheme of admission to technical schools was devised and put into 
operation at the end of the year 1917. According to the new regula- 
tions, pupils over 14 years of age who have left the public schools 
not more than six months previously without obtaining a graduation 
certificate may, on the recommendation of the school inspector, enter 
a free technical school. The pupils thus admitted must select sub- 
jects bearing upon a trade or industry, including agriculture and 
domestic science. They must not take any commercial subjects. Com- 
pulsory continued education is at present provided only at the option 
of the local authorities in some 17 small areas, but steps are taken 
to have it organized in the Dominion on a more comprehensive 
national basis. At the third general meeting, held in June, 1917, by 
the council of education, an advisory body on the matter of education, 
it was resolved "that it should be compulsory for every child be- 
tween the ages of 14 and 17 years living within 3 miles of technical 
classes to attend such for three hours a week and 30 weeks a year." 
In compliance with this regulation of 1917, three more centers were 
opened for continued education of the youth. 

CHILD WELFARE. 

The health of school children is carefully guarded by a system of 
medical inspection and physical instruction which the Department 
of Education is vigorously pursuing. Medical inspectors do not 
treat, but examine, the children. In case defects are found, the 
parents are notified and urged to attend to the matter. If necessary, 
the school nurse visits the homes of the pupils and sees that satis- 
factory results are obtained. Medical inspectors render further 
assistance by delivering lectures to parents on such topics as diet, 
clothing, and the treatment of simple ailments. Lectures and 
demonstrations by medical inspectors are also regularly given to the 
prospective teachers in the training colleges and to instructors already 
in the service. 

The work of physical instruction is now carried on in practically 
all the schools. Weak and defective children requiring special exer- 
cises are treated separately in so-called corrective classes. Great 
progress in the children's health has also been made in recent years 
by providing fresh-air schools for normal pupils. 

Nor is the health of infants, i. e., children below 6 years of age, 
neglected. For some years New Zealand has registered the lowest 
percentage of infantile mortality for the entire world. This result 

129488°— 19 £ 



50 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

is due to the splendid system or infant life protection conducted by 
the Department of Education and by private persons, the "Society 
for the Promotion of Health of Women and Children," founded in 
1907 under the encouragement of Gov. and Lady Plunket. District 
agents and duly qualified nurses under the department visit the 
homes where children under 6 years of age are taken care of by their 
foster parents. In case the conditions surrounding the child in the. 
foster home are found unsatisfactory, the license may be revoked and 
the child may be directed for care to some other place. More 
elaborate is the educational campaign conducted by the "Society for 
the Promotion of Health of Women and Children" and carried on 
by the so-called "Plunket nurses." These nurses are concentrated 
in some 70 points of the Dominion and visit both near-by centers 
and more remote districts in order to lend counsel and impart in- 
struction in all that pertains to the hygiene of motherhood and 
the care of children. The services of the nurses, or, better, the 
specialists in child care, are at the call of any member of the com- 
munity, rich or poor. Their duties are not properly covered by the 
term "nurses," as their fundamental aim is of an educational nature. 
Whenever a community expects the arrival of one of these nurse?, the 
members of the local committee, who have been officially notified, 
make necessary arrangements for the visitor to speak at various 
gatherings of mothers and to hold public demonstrations relative 
to the care of children in addition to informal conferences in the 
local school and the instructional visits to the individual homes. An 
integral part of her duties also consists of correspondence with 
mothers who live in districts too remote to allow systematic visitation. 
Thus the society concerns itself less with reducing the infantile 
death rate than with jealously safeguarding the health of children. 

NATIVE SCHOOLS. 

The Government supports a number of schools for the natives. At 
the end of 1917 there were in operation 118 native village schools at- 
tended by 4,622 Maori children. A large percentage of the Maori 
children also attend general public schools. A number of secondary 
schools for Maori children, under control of denominational bodies, 
are subsidized by the Government, Avhich provides free places for 
the native children. According to reports of the minister of educa- 
tion the progress in education made by these children compares fav- 
orably with the school record of children of European parents. 

SECONDARY EDUCATION. 

With regard to secondary education, it is to be noted that of 9,517 
pupils who in 1916 left the primary schools after having passed 
standard 6, 5,489 children, or 58 per cent, entered a secondary 



EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 51 

institution. Unfortunately, few finish, the course. The average 
length of stay is two years and nine months for boys, and two years 
and eight months for girls. 

The types of school that provide secondary education are: Sec- 
ondary schools, technical high schools, district high schools , private 
seconda^ schools, and Maori secondary schools. 

There are no definite regulations governing the curriculum of 
secondary schools. These schools are mainly governed by the sylla- 
buses of the various public examinations and by regulations issued 
by the Government with regard to the instruction of pupils holding 
free places. According to new regulations issued in 1917, all junior 
pupils holding free places in secondary schools must " receive instruc- 
tion in history and civics preparatory to a course in the elementary 
principles of economics to be taken at a later stage." In the new 
regulations provision is also made for instruction in home science, 
cookery, laundry work, needlework, and home nursing for girls, and 
practical agriculture and dairy science or some other vocational 
subjects for boys. 

TECHNICAL EDUCATION. 

Technical education is gaining more ground in the Dominion, 
judging by the increased attendance of students at the technical 
schools. Irrespective of enrollment of older students, the total num- 
ber receiving instruction at all the schools and technical classes was 
20,747, an increase of 1,056 over the previous year. Increased demand 
is made for classes in engineering and agricultural subjects. In a 
number of centers classes for farmers were conducted on subjects 
bearing directly on agricultural and dairying industries. These were 
well attended. There was also an increase in the number of classes 
bearing on various trades and occupations. At 22 centers 167 dis- 
charged soldiers received free tuition in technical schools. In a 
number of cases where the technical school lacked the necessary 
equipment and workshops the school cooperated with the local firms 
which provided proper facilities for discharged soldiers. 

HIGHER EDUCATION. 

The New Zealand University is an examining body, with four 
affiliated teaching colleges: Auckland University College, Victoria 
University College, Canterbury College, and the Otago University. 
The New Zealand University is a Federal institution with limited 
powers. It can not interfere with the internal affairs of the colleges 
which are administered by the various councils. Each of the colleges 
specializes in certain directions ; Auckland University College in min- 
ing and commerce, Victoria in law and science, Canterbury College in 



52 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

engineering and science, and Otago University in medicine and 
dentistry. 

The number of students in attendance at the four colleges in 1917 
was 1,902—1,007 men and 895 women. This is a slight increase over 
the preceding year. As to the selection of courses, the majority, 
i. e., 44 per cent, took the arts course, 15 per cent studied medicine, 
11 per cent engineering, 10 per cent law, and the rest took various 
other courses. 

The total staff of the four colleges consisted in 1917 of 49 pro- 
fessors, 50 lecturers, and 32 assistants, demonstrators, etc. 

With regard to new developments worth noting is the establish- 
ment of a school of architecture at the Auckland University and a 
course of instruction in anthropology at the University of Otago. 
In general the significance of ethnological studies is being more and 
more recognized by representative scientists, who urge that the New 
Zealand University should encourage this branch of learning by 
recognizing it in her examinations and by providing properly quali- 
fied teachers. 

The New Zealand Journal of Science and Technology, 1918, vol. 1, 
No. 5, says editorially : 

Neglect of ethnological studies is greatly to be regretted for both individual 
and national reasons — individually because a knowledge of the main results 
of ethnological and anthropological research is a necessity for the understand- 
ing of civilized as well as of uncivilized man. The decay of custom is a long 
process, requiring many centuries. Thus the habits of thought of Yorkshire 
villages are still influenced by Scandinavian mythology. There is no section of 
the community more in need of such knowledge than ministers of religion, but, 
unfortunately, it does not yet form an essential part of their training. 

Nationally such studies are of far-reaching importance, because of the geo- 
graphical position of Ncav Zealand. We have in our midst a race backward in 
civilization: — the Maori — and still bound by ancient custom of thought in spite 
of a veneer of alien culture. The proper treatment of the many problems thus 
involved is impossible without a knowledge of ethnology, and of the Maori 
people themselves, on the part of the legislators and electors. The probable 
absorption of the Maoris in the people of the North Island will produce a type 
differing from that in the South Island, and it is desirable that this problem 
should be properly envisaged by our thinkers. 

Any future expansion of New Zealand in the Pacific islands will bring further 
problems, for all of which ethnological knowledge will be necessary. Those 
who are directly concerned in the administration of these islands should above 
all receive such a training. New Zealand must play a part of some kind during 
the next five hundred years in the solution of the color problem — the relations 
between black, yellow, and white peoples. If it is to be a worthy part, there 
must be an increase of ethnological studies. This does not mean that a new 
subject should be introduced into the syllabus of the primary and secondary 
schools, for it would even now be possible for a teacher with the necessary 
knowledge to introduce very interesting and educative lessons on ethnology 
into the geography course. But a prior necessity is the training of teachers to 
a higher standard, and a beginning should therefore be made in the university, 



EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND. 53 

Extensive revision has also been made of the courses of study at the 
Otago University School of Mines. The period of studies in min- 
ing, metallurgy, and geology has been lengthened from three to four 
years, of which the first three years of study are common to all three 
divisions and specialization occurs in the fourth. By this means a 
greater amount of general and especially geological training is given 
to students of all divisions, while additional advanced courses have 
been introduced in mining, metallurgy, and workshop practice. 

In addition to the class work, all students must spend 12 months 
in practical work, the length of the vacation being arranged so as 
to permit the student to complete this work by the time the class 
work is finished. All students must spend at least four months in 
underground mining work, while an additional eight months must be 
spent in mining, metallurgical work, or in geological surveying, and 
a thesis prepared descriptive of some mining operations, a metallur- 
gical process, or the geology of an approved area according to the 
division in which the student specializes. 

SCIENTIFIC EESEAECH. 

The importance of scientific research for the advancement of in- 
dustrial efficiency has been realized in New Zealand, as in other parts 
of the British Empire, in the early days of the war. An attempt to 
coordinate science and industry was made as early as 1915, when 
several scientific and other bodies in New Zealand had been consid- 
ering in what manner scientific and industrial research might be or- 
ganized in the Dominion. The matter received, however, no official 
consideration until some time later, when at the request of the acting 
prime minister, the national efficiency board, in coordination with sev- 
eral other scientific bodies, evolved a scheme which was forwarded 
to the Government in January, 1918. 

Some of the provisions of the proposed scheme are : 

1. There should be established a board of science and industry, 
with responsible functions and substantial authority to encourage 
and coordinate scientific and industrial research in the Dominion. 

2. There should be a minister of science and industry, who should 
be the chairman of the board. 

3. An adequate sum, not less than £100,000, should be voted by 
Parliament to cover the expenditures for five years. 

The board is also to have power to establish, award, and supervise 
fellowships and to see that the fellowship, tenable for two years, 
should be of sufficient value to prevent the holders from being at- 
tracted to other positions. 

It was also suggested that the board of science and industry might 
(a) advise primary producers upon all questions of the application of 



54 BIEXiNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

science to their industries; (l>) advise persons, firms, or companies 
engaged in industrial pursuits as to improvements in the arts and 
processes employed, and as to the utilization of waste products; (c) 
make recommendations as to the adoption in an industry of the 
results of investigations conducted under its direction; (d) under- 
take the investigation of industrial problems which, if unsolved, 
would obstruct the development of the industries concerned; (e) 
advise the Government in regard to the help that should be given to 
any new industry that is likely to be ultimately of value to the 
country, though at first it may not be workable except at a loss; (/) 
advise the Government as to which contribution, if any, should be 
made toward the cost of any research by the firms or companies bene- 
fited thereby; (g) on the request of the University of New Zealand, 
consult with that body in matters relating to the national research 
scholarships in its award; (Ji) consult with the General Council of 
Education, the University of New Zealand, the university colleges, 
and other educational bodies as to the line along which there could be 
brought about an improvement in scientific education, and cooperate 
with them and all others concerned in taking such steps as may lead 
to the better appreciation of the aims and advantages of science on 
the part of producers and the general body of citizens. 



RECENT PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN THE UNION OF SOUTH 

AFRICA. 

By Theresa Bach, 
Division of Foreign Educational Si'stems, Bureau of Education. 



GENERAL. DEVELOPMENT. 

The Union, constituted by an act of Parliament in 1909, comprises 
the former self-governing colonies, the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, 
the Transvaal, and the Orange River Colony, known at present as 
the Orange Free State. The executive power is vested in the gov- 
ernor general, appointed by the British sovereign, and a cabinet of 
ministers, the members of which are chosen by the governor. Each 
Province is administered by a provincial council, with power to deal 
with elementary and secondary education. Higher education, in 
accordance with the act, is placed under the control of the minister 
of education for the Union. 

The system of education maintained in the four Provinces is con- 
cerned primarily with the children of white parents. The education 
of the natives, who form the bulk of the population, remains in 



EDUCATION IN THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 55 

the hands of the missionaries, who maintain their own mission 
schools. The Government exercises some control over these schools 
and gives its financial support in the form of grants-in-aid. In 
all the Provinces education was made compulsory for the children 
of European extraction. No such provision exists for the children 
of other races. In some of the Provinces the tendency to increase 
educational facilities and to raise the compulsory age of the pupils 
has, in recent years, received official sanction by direct legislative 
measures. 

So, for instance, at the Cape cf Good Hope one cf the most im- 
portant features of the year 1917 was the amendment relating to 
compulsory school attendance of European children. An ordinance 
passed by the provincial council in 1917 makes the leaving age 15 
instead of 14 and the leaving standard Y instead of IY. The prin- 
ciple underlying compulsory education in that Province dates from 
the year 1905, when a school board act was passed making attend- 
ance compulsory for every child over 7 years of age and living 
within 3 miles of a State-aided school. Exemption from school 
was granted with the attainment of the age of 11 or the passing of 
Standard IY of the elementary school course. A further step in 
that direction was made in 1913 when it was generally felt that the 
time was ripe for an extension of the principle of compulsion. Ac- 
cordingly, ordinance 16 of 1913 made it possible for the distance 
limit, the exemption age, and the exemption standard to be raised 
in selected areas. Finally, by ordinance 7 of 1917, the minimum ex- 
emption age for the whole Province was raised to 15 and the mini- 
mum school year to Standard Y. The school authorities in the Cape 
Province are not satisfied, however, with the results attained, and 
point to the need of further compulsory extension for white children, 
Draft ordinance of 1919 contains the following paragraph: 

From and after the commencement of this ordinance regular school attend- 
ance shall be compulsory in the Cape Province for all children of European 
parentage or extraction who have completed their sixth but not their sixteenth 
year. 

The important matter of free tuition is mandatory at the Cape 
only up to the compulsory limits. Consequently with the extension 
of the compulsory school age an attempt was made to extend the 
privilege of free tuition " up to and including the sixth standard 
of the primary-school course." A move in that direction can be seen 
in ordinance No. 15 of 1917 that empowers the department under 
certain conditions to pay the school fees of children whose parents 
are on active military service. This regulation applies not only to 
pupils attending schools under school boards but is applicable to 
any school not conducted for private profit. 



56 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 191&-1918. 

Legislative measures for a larger school life have not been lim- 
ited to the Cape of Good Hope. In the Province of the Transvaal 
a provision in ordinance No. 16 of 1916, issued by the Department 
of Education, authorizes the local school boards to raise the age 
and the standard of compulsion, if it is found desirable. This 
means that children over 15 years of age or those having reached 
the fifth standard may be compelled to continue their education at 
the option of the school boards. Furthermore, attendance in con- 
tinuation classes can be made compulsory for children who are 
exempt from attendance at primary schools. 

With regard to compulsory attendance in the Transvaal, vari- 
ous recommendations are proposed. Some school boards advocate 
that compulsory education should end with the attainment of the 
seventeenth year of age or the passing of the fifth standard ; others 
recommend the sixteenth year as the age limit or the sixth standard 
as an alternative. As to compulsory continuation classes, there is 
a tendency to have the pupils attend school during the working 
hours for at least 10 hours a week. 

Another regulation bearing upon increased school facilities for 
the children in that Province provides that a public school may be 
established in any country district where the attendance of not less 
than 20 pupils can be assured. The former regulation required a 
minimum attendance of 25. Although the present tendency of the 
department is directed toward centralization — that is, toward larger 
schools with a larger school attendance — the lowering of the re- 
quirements with regard to the establishment of other schools was 
necessitated in order to meet the needs of children who could not 
otherwise be brought within the reach of larger institutions. 

A scheme inaugurated by the Department of Education in the 
Transvaal further provides Government grants for private schools 
recognized by the authorities as efficient. These grants will un- 
doubtedly raise the standard of the private institutions and bring 
them in line with the schools controlled and administered by the 
various school boards- of the Province. 

At the end of September, 1917, the total number of white pupils 
enrolled was 116,491 ; of native and colored children, 138,397. The 
total number of pupils enrolled in Government-aided schools was 
254,888, the average attendance being 86.4 per cent. The total num- 
ber of teachers was 10,215, of whom 6,739 were holders of profes- 
sional certificates. 

The Government's expenditure on education during the fiscal year 
ended March 31, 1917, was $4,751,000, thus apportioned: Head of- 
fice (administration), $51,000; inspection, including transportation, 
$189,000; training of teachers, $429,000; schools under school boards 
(grants in aid), $2,979,000; schools not under school boards. 



EDUCATION IN THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 57 

$182,000; schools under missionary control, $556,000; industrial 
schools, $80,000; good-service allowance, $260,000; pension fund, 
$22,000; incidental expenses, $3,000. 

LANGUAGE PROBLEMS. 

The language question presents considerable difficulties in South 
Africa. At present English and Dutch are recognized as the official 
languages in the Union, a fact which affects the schools to a consider- 
able degree. In the Cape Peninsula instruction in the mother tongue 
is provided up to and including Standard IV, when the second 
language is gradually introduced. The languages hitherto taught 
in public schools were either Dutch or English, but as the conversa- 
tional medium of large circles of the population is Afrikaans, or 
Africander Dutch, the school authorities sanctioned the introduction 
of this tongue as a regular school subject in the non-English classes. 
The more literary Dutch has thus been superseded by Afrikaans, es- 
pecially in the lower grades of the elementary course. An ordinance 
promulgated on May 17, 1918, and known as Education (Afrikaans) 
Ordinance No. 14, 1918, reads: 

Where in any public school to which the provisions of the Education (Lan- 
guage) Ordnance No. 11 of 1912 apply, the Dutch language is lawfully used 
either as a prevailing medium or as one of the media of instruction, it shall 
be competent for the Department of Public Education, on the resolution of 
the responsible school committee, or school board where there is no committee, 
to authorize the use of Afrikaans instead of Dutch (Nederlands) as such 
medium of instruction in all or in any classes of that school up to and includ- 
ing the fourth standard. 

Thus by adopting Afrikaans the Cape of Good Hope has set itself 
to solve the problem of not two but practically three languages. 
The ordinance also permits pupil teachers to answer examination 
papers in Afrikaans, as well as in Dutch or English. 

In the Transvaal the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction 
was sanctioned by the school authorities sometime ago. Of more 
recent date is the introduction of Afrikaans as a school subject. This 
radical change has been universally welcomed by teachers and pupils 
in schools where hitherto Dutch was the medium of instruction. In 
many instances, however, the introduction of Afrikaans had to be 
postponed for lack of the necessary textbooks. 

One of the school inspectors in the Transvaal, referring to the new 
ordinance (Transvaal Educ. Dept. Rep., 1917), states: 

Great things are expected of Afrikaans, and teachers are everywhere 
enthusiastically studying the subject in order to "see it through." For the first 
time in the history of the Africander child he will find himself in a position 
of real equality with the other European children. In the past the study of 
language (which after all is little more than a medium of thought) was tak- 



58 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

ing up practically all Ms time, while children of other countries were absorbing 
new ideas almost from the day they entered school. 

Ill Natal, whj.ch is colonized almost throughout by British, the bi- 
lingual ordinance came first into operation in the year 1916, although 
a practical bi-lingualism has long obtained there with the approval 
of the department. The new ordinance reserves to the parents the 
right to decide as to the medium in which their children shall be in- 
structed. In the Orange Free State, except where the parents object, 
both English and Dutch are taught to all children, and where pos- 
sible, are used as equal media of instruction. 

The provisions of the language ordinances in the various provinces 
are usually met by setting up parallel classes in the lower standards 
and then teaching each language in its own medium; general sub- 
jects, such as history and geography are taught in the higher grades 
in a mixed medium, unless the school is large enough to allow of a 
similar arrangement as prevails in the lower standards. 

SECONDARY EDTTCATIOX. 

Provision for secondary education is made by public high schools 
or by advanced classes connected with the elementary schools. Pres- 
ent efforts are directed to the promotion of these classes to high- 
school grades wherever the scheme appears to be feasible. In the 
Province of i\ie Transvaal 10 high schools have thus been created 
in addition to the 10 already in existence. The question of transition 
from primary to secondary schools has not been entirely settled in 
that Province. The Transvaal Teachers' Association is of opinion 
that separate high schools should be built only for pupils who intend 
to matriculate. 

For the rest of the pupils the association urges the maintenance 
of advanced classes in the primary schools. The reason given by 
this body of teachers is that transfer to a secondary institution will 
cause many pupils to drop out. The stand taken by the higher school 
authorities, on the contrary, favors the separation of primary and 
secondary schools. Discussing the advantages accruing from the 
latter arrangement, the director of education for the Transvaal, in 
his report for 1917, says : 

It (the transfer) is an event which stirs and satisfies the impulses and am- 
bitions characteristic of the awakening of adolescence. The spirit of adoles- 
cence is the spirit of adventure; it is a time when hunger for intellectual 
achievement, for the life and associations of youth, for freedom from the tram- 
mels of childhood, is imperative. Migration to a higher institution is just what 
satisfies it. Transfer is thus, in the first place, justified by the physical and 
mental demands of the pupils themselves. In the second place, it is justified 
by the criterion of efficiency. This will more certainly be gained in an institu- 
tion where the head and his staff devote themselves entirely to secondary needs 



EDUCATION" IE" THE UNION OE SOUTH AFRICA. 59 

and secondary subjects. Economy is a third argument. Science is going to 
bulk largely in secondary curricula in the future, and well-equipped laboratories 
will be essential. They can not be provided at a large number of centers. The 
same thing is true of libraries which must be good enough to afford a field 
for adventure in history and literature. Finally, there is the all-important Ques- 
tion of playing fields and organized games. The first 11 caps or colors won in 
strenuous competition is the ambition of normal youth. 

In the Cape of Good Hope better adjustment and the abolition of 
the overlapping between the elementary and the secondary school 
course have been effected in recent years. The seventh grade of the 
elementary schools was abolished and the elementary course confined 
to six grades, these to be superseded by the secondary school course 
with a four-year syllabus. 

The secondary course is to be reorganized with a view of providing 
general and vocational training. This, at least, is the proposal of 
Dr. Viljoen, the superintendent general of the Cape Province, made 
before the Congress of the South African Educational Union, held 
on December 27, 19i8. The scheme involves the inauguration of 
eight courses, each with a four-year syllabus : A preparatory course 
leading to higher education, and a general course for those not in- 
tending to pursue university studies; further, preparatory courses 
for the public service, the teaching profession, and the courses suit- 
able for those who intend to adopt commercial, technical, agricul- 
tural, or domestic pursuits. It is proposed to introduce these courses 
in a limited number by way of experiment rather than to lay down 
hard-and-fast rules and regulations for the entire scheme. 

Training of teachers. — With regard to the training of teachers in 
the Cape Province, several tentative proposals have been made by 
Dr. Viljoen. 

The present third class teachers' certificate (senior) course is to be 
replaced by a lower primary teachers 5 certificate course, to commence 
after Standard VI of the primary school course had been completed 
and to extend over a period of four 3 7 ears. Further, the superin- 
tendent general proposed the establishment at training colleges of 
a higher primary teachers' course extending over a period of two 
years beginning after the completion of a full four years' course at 
a secondary school. In addition to these two courses the training 
schools and colleges are to offer courses for teachers in infant schools 
and for those intending to specialize in subjects such as domestic 
science, manual training, drawing, music, commercial subjects, etc. 

The supply of certificated teachers, although inadequate for ex- 
isting needs, shows a steady increase, if one makes reference to the 
records of the year ended June 30, 1918. It appears that the teaching 
posts in the Cape Province increased during the year by 198; the 
number of certificated teachers employed increased by 255 ; while the 



60 BIENNIAL SUKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

number of uncertificated teachers employed decreased by 57. Com- 
pared with other Provinces of the Union the Cape employs 39 cer- 
tificated teachers for every 1,000 enrolled pupils, while the Transvaal 
employs 25 certificated teachers, and the Orange Free State 28 on 
that basis. 

AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

Scientific training in the principles of agriculture and stock rais- 
ing is making rapid strides in the Union. This training is carried 
on at four well-equipped agricultural schools conducted by the De- 
partment of Agriculture, as well as a number of experimental farms. 
Two of these schools are situated in the Cape Province, one at Elsen- 
burg and the other at Grootfontein. The third is located at Potchef- 
stroom, Transvaal, and the fourth at Cadara, Natal. A fifth school 
has been built near Bloemf ontein, Orange Free State, but due to the 
war conditions, its inauguration has been postponed. The cultiva- 
tion of the soil, experimentation in plants, and the breeding of cattle 
are conducted on an extensive scale, not only for the benefit of the 
students enrolled, but also for the general farming population. 
Horticultural and poultry divisions are maintained in connection 
with each institution. Admission is based on the completion of the 
elementary school. The regular course of instruction covers a period 
of two years. Special short courses are also given during the 
months of June and July each year. These institutions also assist 
the farmer in matters relating to the various phases of farming by 
means of correspondence, publications, lectures, and demonstrations. 

Experiments in soils, crops, and fertilizers are conducted at the 
school farms, at detached experimental stations, and by means of 
cooperative experiments with individual farmers. 

The Government Wine Farm near Cape Town offers a three years' 
practical training with some theoretical instruction. Agricultural 
faculties have also been established at the University of Stellen- 
bosch, and at the Transvaal University College, which now forms 
part of the University of South Africa. 

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 

The university problem, closety connected with the political and 
social conditions of the country, have in recent years undergone far- 
reaching changes advocated in South Africa for the last decade. 
With the inauguration of the Union, higher education was placed 
under the control of the central authorities or the minister of educa- 
tion. Until a few years ago the university was a purely examining 
body, which dominated a number of small colleges serving only 
local interests. Various proposals for the creation of a strong na- 
tional university, where the youth of the country could receive a 
common intellectual training, led to legislative measures with the 






EDUCATION IN THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA. 61 

result that the entire system of university education in South Africa 
was placed on a higher plane. 

- The new scheme put in operation April 2, 1918, was reorganized 
on the following basis : 

1. The South African College became the University of Cape Town. 

2. The Victoria College at Stellenbosch was granted a separate 
charter and became the University of Stellenbosch. 

3. The six remaining colleges — those at Grahamstown, Wellington, 
Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Pietermaritzburg — were 
federated in the University of South Africa, a, successor of the Uni- 
versity of the Cape of Good Hope, with the administrative seat at 
Pretoria. 

The policy of the newly created institutions is reflected in the 
following statement from a Cape Town correspondent published in 
the London Times Educational Supplement for February 13, 1919: 

The University of Stellenbosch shows a strong tendency to ally itself with 
pronounced Dutch-Nationalist sentiment, and has already become its chief 
intellectual center. Its students are almost exclusively Dutch-speaking, and 
instruction is being increasingly given through the medium of the Dutch lan- 
guage. Indeed, so strong has the feeling of separate identity become that 
even simplified Netherlands Dutch is in danger of being cast out in favor of 
South African Dutch (Afrikaans). It would seem that the future of the 
University of Stellenbosch is largely bound up with the fate of Afrikaans. If 
that language succeeds in establishing itself as the recognized sister medium 
to English, and in developing a literature (as it shows promise of doing), and 
if the government of the university is alive to the dangers of an exclusive 
parochialism, especially in the matter of appointments to the staff, then the 
University of Stellenbosch will become an intellectual and moral center of 
influence of a peculiarly interesting and valuable type. 

The University of Cape Town continues the tradition of the old South 
African College, which always earned the kicks of extremists from either side 
because of the broad South African nationalism which has always characterized 
it. Ordinarily (though the war has made a difference) its students have been 
English and Dutch in about equal numbers, and the bitter political and racial 
struggles of the country have had but faint echoes within its walls. During 
the war it has been criticized with about equal vehemence by the left wing 
of each racial group, and the present confidence it enjoys and the phenomenal 
development it has recently achieved abundantly justify its maintenance of 
the old attitude. Language difficulties are well-nigh insuperable, but they are 
being handled in a reasonable spirit. 

Stellenbosch specializes in agriculture, while the University of 
Cape Town is developing the faculties of engineering and medicine. 
The faculties of law and education are also likely to become stronger 
in the latter institution. 

EDUCATION OF NONET7ROPEAN CHILDREN. 

The non-European population comprises the natives, the mixed 
races or the Eurafricans, and a small contingent of East Indians. 



62 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

The education of the natives is entirely the work of missionary or- 
ganizations. The Government supports the mission schools by means 
of grants, but the maintenance of schools devolves upon the mis- 
sionary bodies. Government control over native education is ex- 
ercised through the following agencies: Financial grants-in-aid, cer- 
tification of teachers, issuing of syllabuses, inspection of schools, and 
examination of pupils. The course of study is based on the Euro- 
pean system, with slight modifications to suit the native children. 
Instruction in all the Provinces is imparted through the medium of 
the vernacular, especially in the lower grades. 

The introduction or" handicrafts in native schools on a larger scale 
than has hitherto been practiced is being urged by school authorities 
familiar with the problem of native education. One inspector of 
schools points out that " pupils accustomed to the free unfettered life 
of the veld and kraal must find some outlet." And nothing, he main- 
tains, would so alleviate the sudden transition from the unrestrained 
liberty of the herdboy to the ordered discipline of a school than 
lessons in grass weaving, clay modeling, woodwork, and needlework. 
These subjects should be encouraged and introduced in all the schools 
for native children. Consideration of industrial training to include 
instruction in agriculture and the native arts and crafts is also urged 
by Dr. Loram, an inspector in Natal. In his book " The Education 
of the South African Native " the author recommends the taking over 
by the Government of all the native schools with a view of establish- 
ing a well articulated sj^stem which shall consist of elementary, in- 
termediate, high, and industrial scho'ols and training institutions 
with courses of study complying with the social and industrial needs 
of the natives. The retention of the vernacular is also strongly 
recommended. 

Missionary organizations provide schools not only for the native 
but also for other colored children in all the Provinces except the 
Transvaal. In that Province the schools for Eurafricans are under 
direct administration of the department and are supervised by the 
school boards on the same basis as the schools for Europeans. At the 
close of the year 1917 there were in that Province, in addition to 
schools for European children, 19 Government schools for colored 
children, with an enrollment of 2,681, and 330 subsidized mission 
schools with an enrollment of 21,421. 

In addition to the mission schools, the Government subsidized a 
number of Indian schools, notably in Natal, where 39 such schools 
receive grants-in-aid, while 5 schools for Indian children are directly 
maintained by the department of that Province. 



BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION", 1916-1918. 63 

THE PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA, 

By Walter A. Montgomery, 

Specialist in Foreign Educational Systems. 



INTRODUCTION. 



In no other country of the world is the subject of education more 
complicated than in India. The system maintained or sanctioned in 
the 15 Provinces which are directly or indirectly under British con- 
trol is further complicated by considerations inclissolubly inter- 
twined with the historical, climatic, racial, religious, and strictly 
agricultural characteristics of the people. Historically, the system 
still shows in many fundamental features of the vernacular schools 
the native system which prevailed in the larger and more powerful 
Provinces — such as Bengal, Bombay, and Madras — before the official 
consolidation of British power about 60 years ago; and the suc- 
cessive modifications made by the several education commissions, 
provincial and imperial, have left indelible traces upon it. 

India's racial complexity is a commonplace, more than 40 distinct 
races going to make up her total population of over 250,000,000 
(estimated, 1919). As a consequence the several Provinces represent- 
ing the original nuclei of diverse tribes have developed widely vary- 
ing systems of administration and instruction. This tendency has 
been fostered by the definite policy of the British Government, 
which has been loath to attempt to impose upon India, as a whole, 
one rigid and uniform system, but has wisely sought to confine itself 
to maintaining educational activities in their broadest and most use- 
ful aspect. The difficulties inherent in religious differences and 
jealousies, and in their inevitable consequence, the caste system, 
were unlimited; and even a partially successful harmonizing of 
these, so far as to effect some system of popular instruction, is in 
itself a triumph for British colonial ability. Yet in face of all these 
abstacles, multiplied in many phases in almost every Province, more 
than fair success has been achieved since the original lines of educa- 
tional polity for India were laid down. Marked progress is to be 
recorded, especially during the last reported quinquennium (1912- 
1917) , the period adopted by the Indian authorities for a systematic 
and comprehensive report upon the educational conditions of the 
Provinces. 

A consideration of the effects of the war, direct and indirect, on 
Indian education must necessarily precede a more detailed investi- 
gation of conditions in that country. The former have varied ac- 
cording to the location of the Province under consideration, whether 
situated upon the sea coast, and possessing a large port of embarka- 



64 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

tion of men and supplies, or remote from visible connection with 
the war. To select from those most closely concerned with the war : 
In the Madras Presidency, perhaps the most marked effects were the 
cutting off of the recruiting of teachers from England and Europe 
and the vacancies due to the withdrawal of the teachers for service; 
financial difficulties of growing seriousness making it necessary to 
postpone many educational projects; and, perhaps most marked for 
this Province, the difficulties encountered in the matter of the mis- 
sionary societies maintaining a system of schools. Most of these were 
German and Lutheran educational missions; and their taking over 
by the Government and continuation with changed committees were 
fraught with many perplexing questions. 

In the Bombay Presidency the effects just noticed were also evi- 
dent ; but in this Province a greater gain has been pronounced in the 
interest aroused among people of all classes, not merely among the 
children in the schools, in the great world issues, in the broadening 
of knowledge and mental horizon, and in the quickened apprecia- 
tion of the unity of the British Empire. In Bombay the very use- 
ful step was taken of applying the machinery of the schools to 
explain to the people at large the real causes and progress of the war. 
This was done by daily talks by the teachers, by the periodical visits 
of the inspectors, by the dissemination of Indian newspapers and 
pamphlets translated into the different vernaculars of the Presidency, 
by lectures and lessons on the war loans, and by the offer of prizes 
for the best essays on the war written by students of secondary and 
higher education. It is doubtful if all other activities of the schools 
were as valuable for the mental awakening of the people as this, 
which might be regarded as merely a by-product of the war. 

In Burma fewer adverse effects of the war are to be noted than 
in any other Province. Though for economic reasons attendance 
declined in the lower primary vernacular schools, many important 
changes in administration and instruction were carried out especially 
during the last two years of the quinquennium under consideration. 
The long-discussed and very important transfer of municipal schools 
to the provincial government was finally effected early in 1917 ; grants 
of half the salaries of teachers were restored in the European schools 
and in most of the aided Anglo-vernacular schools; and the main- 
tenance of these schools was transferred to the Province. Other 
special administrative changes will be indicated under their proper 
headings. 

In the larger field of education throughout the Indian Empire 
financial considerations for the first two years of the war stopped 
the allotment of the imperial grants decreed in 1904. In certain 
Provinces a marked decrease was shown in the attendance in the 
primary schools. But as an offset to these material disadvantages 






PROGKESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 65 

there were compensating advantages throughout India at large as 
indicated in the reports of representative Provinces. 

The most vigorous stimulation of educational interests has come, 
within the past two years, from a far-reaching project of political 
independence for India, culminating in the presentation to the House 
of Commons of the Montagu-Chelmsford Eeport in July, 1918. The 
officials whose names are thus linked are the secretary of state for 
India and the viceroy. Both were thoroughly conversant with the 
needs of India; both had for years studied the part that education 
must play in the political welfare of the peninsula ; and the report, 
in its largeness of view, its exalted vision, its kindly sanity, and its 
deep sympathy with the unrepresented millions and even with the 
classes depressed by the oriental caste system, is an honor to British 
provincial administration. It is difficult to believe that barely a 
century marks the difference in time between the spirit of this report 
and that of rulers of the type of Warren Hastings. The broad 
outlines of the report are as follows : 

1. The report prefaces its review of political and social conditions 
with a survey of the evolution and present state of education in 
India, basing all recommendations upon the prinicple that "educa- 
tional extension and reform must inevitably play an important part 
in all political progress of the country." 

2. The report concludes that the original decision of 1835, with 
which the name of Lord Macaulay has always been connected, to 
impart western education to the natives by the medium of English 
was at that time the right and indeed the only road. The varied 
demand for enlarged opportunities, now rising with increasing 
force and including always more people, is itself only the logical 
result and the vindication of the work laid down by that decision; 
but — 

3. It has brought an illiteracy of the masses and an uneven dis- 
tribution of education which must be ended. No state of affairs 
which includes 6 per cent of the total population literate and less 
than 4 per cent under instruction can be longer tolerated. 

4. The steadily growing cleavage between the educated minority 
and the illiterate majority is the necessary result of the educational 
system adopted, and the fruitful cause of political and social un- 
rest. From every point of view this cleavage must be stopped; re- 
forms in education must precede all attempts at governmental and 
political reform. 

5. Results which have been economically disastrous have been 
manifest in the fact that the exclusively literary system of higher 
education has produced a growing native intelligentsia, which can 

12&488 — 19— 5 



66 BIENNIAL SURVEY OE EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

not find employment and becomes humiliated and soured, affording 
the best possible soil for discontented and anarchistic teachings. 
Education is directly responsible for this political and governmental 
ulcer on the body of the country. Only of late years has any complaint 
arisen against the real element which is wrong in the situation, 
namely, the inadequacy of facilities for training in manufactures, 
commerce, and the application of science to active industrial life. 

6. Examining the charge that the traditional educational sys- 
tem of India has failed in character development, the report finds 
that the question trenches upon the very complicated domain of re- 
ligious belief, which in India, as in all primitive countries, is crystal- 
lized along racial lines. The Governmental schools have either 
utterly ignored the problem and attempted no moral instruction, or, 
if a few here and there have attempted it, the disadvantages under 
which the teachers labor, the indifference of children, and the hos- 
tility of parents have been so great as to nullify all attempts. The 
mission schools alone have dared to inculcate ideas of duty, discipline, 
and civic responsibilities and obligations, and in this field they have 
had results which are worthy of admiration. 

7. The report, replying to the criticisms of the very limited diffus- 
ion of education in India, recalls the conservative prejudices of the 
country which rigidly maintaned themselves until the world events 
of the last few years suddenly began to break them up. That they 
are breaking and yielding is seen in India's undeniable change of 
attitude toward female education. But nothing has yet been done 
to put an end to the profound educational disparity between the 
sexes which must always hopelessly retard any real social or political 
progress. Again, peculiar difficulties arise from the predominantly 
agricultural nature of the population. Such a population, tradition- 
ally suspicious of change, can be reached only by making agri- 
cultural education increasingly practical. At bottom must always 
rest the need of differentiating primary education according to the 
needs of the people to whom it is applied. 

8. The report concludes by emphasizing the urgent necessity of an 
enormous development of educational opportunities side by side with 
any extension of political activities, basing all upon the contention 
that "political thought in India is coming to recognize that advance 
in all lines must be influenced by the general educational level of 
the country." 

Another report, akin in spirit to the Montagu- Chelmsford Report 
and upon which were based many of its conclusions, was the Indus- 
trial Commission Report, presented early in 1918 and embodying the 
results of many months of investigation in the leading Provinces of 
India. Though primarily economic in subject and aim. it, like the 
Montagu-Chelmsford Report, was of distinct value educationally. 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN" INDIA. 67 

It brought clearly to the front the extreme "topheaviness" of a sys- 
tem of education in which less than 3 per cent of the total popula- 
tion are enrolled in the elementary schools; in which the average 
duration of school life is less than four years and nearly half the 
children are in the infant sections of the primary; and in which a 
relapse into illiteracy in adult life is the rule; whereas in the field 
of higher education the percentage of total population enrolled, one- 
twentieth of 1 per cent, is nearly equal to that of England, one- 
sixteenth of 1 per cent, and considerably larger than that of Japan, 
one-thirtieth of 1 per cent. In the field of university education 
alone, India shows one-fortieth of 1 per cent to Japan's one- 
seventieth of 1 per cent of total population. In the estimation of 
the report, this "topheaviness" could only be cured by an efficient, 
free, and compulsory system of education, and by the building up 
of a modern progressive and economic society. Furthermore, India 
is the only country in the world where the educational ladder, frag- 
mentary at best, has its higher end in another country. This evil, 
too, must be cured by the further establishment in India of centers 
of professional and cultural learning for native Indians, themselves 
graduates of the continuous system of schools below. 

ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS. 

In the domain of administration as such the student of Indian 
education is confronted at the outset by the lack of any compulsory 
power vested in the central imperial educational authority. No 
parent is compelled by imperial regulation to send his child to school ; 
nor is any person prohibited from opening a school or positively 
required to take out a license in order to do so. The system is decen- 
tralized throughout. 

As regards the relation of the Imperial Indian Government to edu- 
cation, in general it may be said that it is advisory and promotive: 

The Government of India * * * considers questions of general policy, 
correlates when necessary the lines of advance made in the various Provinces, 
examines, approves, or submits to the secretary of state for India schemes 
which are beyond the sanctioning power of the local governments, and allots 
imperial grants. 

In order to administer the increasingly larger field covered by 
these activities, the post of director general of education was abol- 
ished in 1910, and a member for education was added to the imperial 
executive council. In April, 1915, the post of Educational Commis- 
sioner was created, whose duties are somewhat akin to those of the 
Commissioner of Education of the United States : 

He tours extensively, discusses questions of educational polity with local 
governments, and advises the department on educational cases. At the same 
time a small bureau of education w^as reestablished for the collection and dis- 
semination of information. 



68 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Each provincial government has a department of public instruc- 
tion, presided over by an official usually designated as the director of 
public instruction, appointed by the provincial government. On 
the side of public education the educational powers of the Province 
are shared with local bodies such as rural boards, municipalities, and 
even private associations and individuals. All these latter are them- 
selves required by lav/ to provide facilities for primary education, 
and some are permitted to provide other forms of education in addi- 
tion. The first piece of educational legislation of a compulsory 
nature ever enacted in India was that passed by the legislature of 
Bengal early in 1918. The act is noteworthy in that it is constructed 
entirely along the decentralizing and autonomous lines which form 
the distinctive feature of the Montagu-Chelmsford Report; and so 
representative is it of the dominant thought of the most advanced 
Provinces that the councils of Madras, the Punjab, and Beliar have 
signified favorable action if it should be submitted to them. It strikes 
at the very root of the mass illiteracy of the Province, applying its 
provisions equally to both sexes (a signal advance over eight years 
ago, when a similar provision was defeated), making the period of 
compulsion to include the whole of the child's eleventh year and thus 
giving a minimum of five years of school attendance. The compul- 
sory feature is not, as yet, applied to rural areas, but schools are 
provided in each of the more than 1,100 villages of the Province con- 
taining more than 1,000 inhabitants and at present without a primary 
school. No fees are allowed to be charged in any grade of school 
work. 

Any class or community may be exempted from the operation 
of the act by the local provincial government only in such case as 
the municipality can not arrange satisfactorily the education of 
such children, and they are properly instructed by other means. 
In the vital matter of imposing penalties upon those persons em- 
ploying for profit children who ought to be in school, it is to be 
regretted that economic interests caused a departure from similar 
provisions laid down in the Fisher Act ; and so fully recognized 
was the national necessity of child labor both in organized indus- 
tries, on farms, and in the home, as to call for compromise by 
which only those are subject to penalty who employ children of 
school age in such ways and at such hours as to interfere with their 
efficient instruction. 

The weak point of the act is, confessedly, the vagueness of 
the responsibilities of the State in the event that local bodies, 
through poverty or neglect, fail to provide proper instruction. 
But the continuance of the Government quota to local bodies is in 
no way affected by the act; and the lively interest uninterruptedly 
manifested by the provincial governments in the past furnishes 



PEOGRESS OF EDUCATION" IN INDIA. 69 

every guarantee that the clanger of the Government not making 
subsidies to deserving local boards is imaginary. Indeed, much is 
expected in the way of the development of local independence from 
the very knowledge that local delinquency can not as now rely upon 
the provincial government to supplement inadequate appropria- 
tions. The act has been commended by the school and secular press. 
The Times of India well summarizes the situation in saying that 
the act must and will be applied " along the sound principle that 
whether State finances are flourishing or the reverse, primary edu- 
cation is a necessity for which money must be found." 

As regards the machinery by which provincial governments ad- 
minister public instruction, the director controls a staff of inspec- 
tors and the teaching staff of the schools in so far as the teachers 
are employed by the Government, and performs such other duties 
and wield such other powers as usually belong to him in his capacity 
of agent of the provincial government. The organization of the 
inspectional machinery is generally based upon the unit of the rev- 
enue division of the Government. In the Punjab, however, and in 
Bengal, as secondary schools are numerous, second and assistant 
inspectors are added, generally in charge of all local education, and 
are expected to advise the divisional school officials on policies and 
related matters. The detailed inspection of primary schools, how- 
ever, is incumbent upon deputy inspectors, one for each district. 
There are also special inspectors for European schools, for Moham- 
medan education, and in localities where they are needed, for the 
teaching of Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian. In the larger cities 
expert inspectors have recently been appointed in the subjects of 
manual training, drawing, and science. In addition inspectresses 
for girls' schools are employed so far as the climatic and social 
conditions make it possible. Medical inspection has made encour- 
aging progress, especially in the Punjab and in Bihar and Orissa, 
in spite of the serious interruptions caused by the war. 

Unfortunately, all the Provinces report grave limitations in the 
inadequate number of inspectors, in the narrowed scope of the work 
possible, and in a popular indifference which cripples the efficiency 
of the service. The reports show also that the inspectional system, 
if it is to give adequate supervision to primary schools, especially 
those in villages and remote districts, urgently needs clearer definition 
and better coordination of its several agencies and a large increase 
(especially in Bengal, Bombay, and Madras) of the inspecting staff, 
burdened as this is by many new duties of increasing complexity. 

The most important agency, however, both of control and direct 
management is constituted by the local educational bodies, which in- 
clude rural boards and municipalities. Indeed, they may be re- 
garded as the foundation upon which the primary educational system 



70 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

of India rests. Varying widely in areas coyered in the seyeral 
Provinces, the rural boards are supreme in matters of education and 
in those pertaining to means of communication. Municipal boards 
in cities and towns haye corresponding responsibilities of providing 
instruction. The supreme importance of the functions performed by 
the local bodies of both types, and the wide diversity of their re- 
sponsibilities and scope, well illustrate the decentralized nature of 
educational polity in India. A summary of the salient legal powers 
and duties in the several Provinces is given: 

1. In Madras the municipal act requires the municipality to provide for the 
school instruction of all children of school age, but the responsibility is limited 
by the phrase " so far as the funds at their disposal may admit." 

2. In Bombay and the United Provinces the law requires reasonable provision 
for primary schools. In the latter the act requires the municipalities to expend 
on primary education at least 5 per cent of their normal income after the de- 
duction of income from special modes of taxation. In the city of Bombay the 
law requires the corporation to make adequate provision for maintaining, aid- 
ing, and accommodating private schools, but provides that in the event of educa- 
tion becoming free or free and compulsory, one-third of the additional cost shall 
be paid by the Government. 

3. In Bengal the former rule requiring the municipality to spend 3.2 per cent 
of its ordinary income on education has been repealed, but this is taken as a 
suitable standard ; and also in the Punjab, Burma, and the central Provinces 
the acts are permissive only, requiring only the application of certain funds to 
the object of education, with varying requirements as to the funds from which 
such funds are to be drawn. In Burma it is provided that the maximum ex- 
penditure for education shall not exceed 5 per cent of the gross annual income. 

4. In Assam it is provided that the percentage spent on primary education 
must not fall short of that represented by the average of the expenditure of the 
previous year and that of the year 1904-5, which is taken as a representative 
basis. The establishment of a board charged with oversight of all primary 
and middle vernacular schools is left optional with the Government. 

5. The procedure throughout India varies greatly in the grades of schools 
under the charge of local bodies. In the majority of the Provinces the functions 
of local bodies are not limited to primary education, but their chief concern 
is with the primary schools. Most of them give aid to privately managed 
schools, and therefore wield a legal power over the latter. The extent and 
method by which the provincial government shares in the maintenance and 
control of primary schools are of great complexity. In most instances the 
provincial government is largely guided by the advice and wish of the local 
board, provided always that the latter evinces reasonable generosity and feel- 
ing of responsibility for primary education. 

During the five years under consideration the most marked ten- 
dency both in Government and education was that to grant wider and 
larger powers of government to the local authorities. This culmi- 
nated in June, 1918, in the plan issued by the Imperial Government 
of India, definitely disclaiming any policy of general compulsion as 
being unwise under present conditions, but urging all local bodies 
to assume the burden of " a solid advance toward mass education." 
The additional expenditure for teachers and inspection is to be 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 71 

borne by imperial and local governments, that for the establishment 
and maintenance of physical facilities, buildings, etc., necessary to 
double the enrollment of boys in the primary schools — the goal set 
within 10 years — to be borne by the local boards. 

As matters stood up to that time, local bodies managed the com- 
paratively few local " provided " schools and had control of aided 
schools. Up to 10 years ago, three-fourths of the primary schools 
were under private management, but since that time the tendency 
has been for " provided " schools to gain much faster than aided (mis- 
sionary) or unaided (native) schools; so that in 1917 more than half 
the pupils throughout India in attendance on primary instruction 
were in these schools. An interesting exception must be made in the 
case of Burma, the Province which shows the highest percentage of 
literates. Here primary education is in the hands of the Buddhist 
monks. Elsewhere unaided schools diminished and provided schools 
increased so rapidly that the authorities see in this a proof that 
" there was left no large outer circle of indigenous institutions suit- 
able for inclusion in the public-school system." The reasons for the 
rapid growth of board schools during the past five years are that 
better education can be secured and at less than half the cost of the 
unaided school, and that pupils remain much longer in school. The 
policy of expanding primary schools, of including aided (mis- 
sionary) schools, and of encouraging unaided schools also to come 
under Government management has been steadily pursued by the 
school authorities. Under the new action of the Imperial Govern- 
ment of India, wider scope for initiative has been allowed the local 
boards; but the duty still rests upon provincial governments to en- 
courage primary education and, where needed, to assist in maintain- 
ing it by special educational grants. 

It has been shown that the Imperial Government has little control 
over education, yet it plays a great part in aiding schools, chiefly out 
of funds realized by nation-wide taxation. According to local needs, 
it is free to make, and does make, a considerable assignment of 
revenues for definite educational purposes. Similarly, local and mu- 
nicipal funds realized by taxes (usually from "land-cesses") levied 
by local bodies may be supplemented by provincial funds. In gen- 
eral, the elasticity with which taxes of either of the three categories 
may be applied to educational purposes is absolute, being limited 
only by the provision that funds of, and for, a given Province may 
not be diverted to another. 

As an offset to the wider power and greater responsibility assigned 
to the local boards as indicated above, a contrary tendency is to be 
noted in the way of administrative centralization. This is not gen- 
eral, but as it concerns the two great Provinces of Bengal and Bom- 



72 BIENNIAL SUKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

bay it should not be passed over without mention. In them decrees 
in council have transferred certain duties formally wielded by the 
boards to the inspectors and to the college authorities, and have 
delegated executive functions to the directors of secondary schools. 
It is claimed that efficiency has been secured without a sacrifice of the 
good of the schools. In Bengal especially the result has been to vest 
in the director of public education powers hitherto unpossessed by 
him of appointment, transfer, dismissal, and general control of of- 
ficials of low grades in the provincial educational service. 

CLASSIFICATION OF THE EDUCATIOXAL SYSTEM. 

The traditional and most convenient classification of the educa- 
tional system of India is that into public and private institutions. 
Public institutions are those offering a course of study prescribed or 
recognized by the provincial department of public instruction or the 
provincial university and certified by competent authority to have 
attained the required standard. In point of management, public 
institutions are divided into those managed directly by the pro- 
vincial government, or by local rural or municipal boards, and those 
managed by societies or individuals, aided by provincial or local sub- 
sidies, or supported by fees, endowments, or subscriptions. Private 
institutions are those financially independent of all aid, and excluded 
from the above categories. They are exclusivelv conducted bv mis- 
sionary activities of religious bodies. Following yet another line 
of cleavage from the above, the racial and lingual-racial, the classi- 
fication is adopted of the vernacular, Anglo-vernacular, the English, 
and the Mohammedan. 

Under the vernacular falls, of course, the great majority of the 
schools of India, the predominant feature being the vernacular pri- 
mary school, which educates the native child from about 5 years of 
age, using the local vernacular dialect alone as the medium of in- 
struction up to 10 or 11. The usual division is into two stages, the 
lower primary, of four years, and the upper primary, of one, two, 
or three years. The greater number of the pupils never advance 
beyond the lower primary, a fact which constitutes perhaps the most 
serious phase of the problem confronting the educational system of 
India; and the actual length of the average pupil's schooling is less 
than four years. 

The next higher division is the middle school, which includes (a) 
the middle vernacular, really a continuation school giving instruc- 
tion chiefly in practical subjects, without English, and leading to 
no higher standard, and (b) the middle English school, the begin- 
ning of the Anglo- vernacular division. This is the first school which 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 73 

offers opportunity to a native child to pursue his education, and con- 
tains standards preparatory to the high school and articulating with 
it. The high school admits both natives and Europeans, and in most 
Provinces includes more than the American use of the term conveys, 
not only the essential high-school subjects, but also the middle stand- 
ards just indicated, and even occasionally the last year or two of 
the upper primary. 

Above the high schools are the colleges, which are (a) those of 
second or intermediate grade, corresponding in general to the Ameri- 
can junior college of two years; and (b) those of the first grade 
conferring the B. A. or the B. Sc. within four years from the 
completion of the high school and the M. A. or M. Sc. within five 
or six years therefrom. 

PRIMARY VERNACULAR SCHOOLS. 

The primary vernacular school is the pivot of popular education 
in India. Except in a few districts, it is attended almost exclusively 
by boys. Instruction is sometimes continued through the middle 
vernacular classes, but the overwhelming majority of children never 
advance beyond the" lower primary. In 1917 the primary schools and 
the primary departments annexed to other schools numbered some- 
what over 140,000, with 6,718,101 pupils enrolled. This was an in- 
crease of 16 per cent over 1912, but registered an increase of only 2.8 
per cent of the total population. Only 29,313,515 rupees are ex- 
pended on them, a per capita of 4-J rupees ($1.30). The low propor- 
tion of expenditure on elementary as compared with higher forms 
of education is the startling and significant feature of the entire 
situation, along with other facts reenforcing the well-known indict- 
ment of " topheaviness " against the entire system. 

The evil naturally varies in intensity from Province to Province. 
Bombay and Bengal pay better teachers' salaries, and the expendi- 
ture upon primary schools in these two Provinces is less dispropor- 
tionate than the average ; but the evil of overcrowded and unequipped 
primary education is substantially as stated. Attempts have been 
been made, notably that in 1918-17 by the government of Bihar and 
Orissa, for the expansion of primary education by the district boards 
with the object of doubling the percentage of children enrolled in 
schools by opening additional schools and by a species of consolida- 
tion of schools. Another problem pressing for solution but for which 
none has been found is that presented by the fact that the school 
child of India abandons school within less than four years and be- 
tween 10 and 12 years of age, and often relapses into complete illit- 
eracy, 






74 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF. EDUCATION, 191G-1918. 

In the face of these problems changes, such as those in the curricula 
and methods of instruction, seem of minor consequence. Only in the 
western division of Bengal can a new curriculum be said to have 
been prepared. It was to be brought into force in 1918. The dif- 
ferences between the curricula for rural and for city schools are 
generally unrecognized. In some Provinces, in the attempt to keep 
boys in school longer, the directors have striven to give an agricul- 
tural tinge at least to education in rural schools by requiring the 
teachers to call attention to plant and animal life, to make reading 
and arithmetic questions concern themselves with agricultural meth- 
ods and production, and to impart instruction in land records to ad- 
vanced pupils. 

The question of the medium of instruction has never been a trou- 
blesome one, primary education being almost always synonymous 
with vernacular education even in the primary standards attached to 
the secondary schools. The point at which instruction in English 
is begun varies from Province to Province, according as the lower* 
primary has or has not infant standards and four or six standards 
besides; but practical uniformity exists in that the use of English 
as a medium of instruction (except in the case of east Bengal) always 
begins after the completion of the middle standards. 

In Burma the largest educational increase recorded in India was 
shown, primary schools for boys increasing by 42 per cent and pupils 
in attendance upon them by 38 per cent for the five years up to 
June, 1917. A large part of this was due to the satisfactory settle- 
ment of the peculiar problem presented by primary education in this 
Province, namely, the assimilation of Buddhist monastic schools in 
the educational system, and the marked improvement of their teach- 
ing staff. These monastic schools are the most vigorous feature 
still left of the original educational system which prevailed before 
British occupation; and, forming as they do the principal means 
for the moral instruction of the youth, they can not be ignored. 
Indeed so influential were they locally that only by their main- 
tenance and strengthening could the moral and political welfare of 
Burma be subserved. A satisfactory arrangement was made, the 
Government taking over the responsibility of financial support, ap- 
pointing deputy inspectors, and in general bringing increasing num- 
bers of these schools under the educational control of the Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction. The schools of Burma also must be 
credited with the only far-reaching change made in India during the 
five years under consideration. This was the introduction of a spe- 
cial course for boys who did not proceed beyond the fourth grade. 
No reports of the success of this experiment are available, but they 
are awaited with great interest by all students of Indian education 






PKOGKESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 75 

as dealing with a problem whose solution will be of inestimable value. 
During the year 1917-18 officials of Burmese education, with the 
consent of the Government, effected important changes in the cur- 
ricula for Anglo-vernacular schools. 

The chief effect of these changes was to prescribe a modified and uniform; 
course in geography for these schools ; to simplify the course in arithmetic for 
girls so as to leave more time for domestic economy and needlework, now com- 
pulsory ; to separate hygiene from elementary science, making it compulsory 
for boys and girls in the primary and middle schools but optional in high 
schools, to amplify the courses in elementary science and object lessons, and to 
add morals and civics as a new subject in primary and middle schools. Ar- 
rangements were made for the preparation of a new series of textbooks in the 
above subjects as well as in geography. 

To Burma also must be given the credit of effecting the most im- 
portant administrative change of the five years, namely, the creation 
of a system of divisional boards to undertake, under the general con- 
trol of the Educational Department, the administration of certain 
branches of vernacular education. The methods of handling of edu- 
cational finances were also so simplified when these boards were created 
as to call to* popular attention their increased responsibility for 
vernacular education. A conference held in 1916, participated in by 
representatives of native as well as British education, cordially ac- 
cepted the arrangement, and divisional boards now have charge of 
all matters affecting vernacular education, subject only to the veto 
of the Department of Education. 

With the stirring of ideas looking toward larger popular powers 
both in government and in education, and with the demands for com- 
pulsory education, intangible in most places and yet culminating in 
the Bengal act, there has been realized more thoroughly the ineffi- 
ciency of the system of education as regards reaching the vast unlet- 
tered population of India. The demand for mass education, scarcely 
heard 10 years ago, has now so grown in volume as to fill the jour- 
nals and public press, and to occupy a large part of the attention of 
provincial legislative assemblies. It has also significantly written 
itself on the mind of the governing Englishman, as is shown most 
conclusively by the Montagu- Chelmsford Report to Parliament, and 
on Indian soil proper by the circular letter addressed in 1917 to the 
local governments by the Imperial Government. 

Grasping this demand in all its causes and implications, the edu- 
cational officials of India do not hesitate to accept it as largely justi- 
fied, and to use it as a powerful lever in their efforts toward thorough- 
going reform. In summarizing the general lines of progress made 
during the five years from 1912 to 1917, undeniable on the spiritual 
as well as the material sides, Dr. Sharp, educational commissioner of 
the Indian Empire, well sets forth what must continue to be the 



76 BIENNIAL SUKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

weakness in primary education in India so long as the masses are 
unreached : 

But it is impossible to rest content with an expansion of mass education on 
present lines or with a system under which a large proportion of the pupils are 
infants stagnating in a creche, and the remainder glean only an acquaintance 
with the three It's, and only a small residue continue to the stage where 
some of the fruits of this initial labor can be reaped. Given sufficient funds 
and sufficient schools, education could probably be made universal on a com- 
pulsory or on a voluntary basis within a comparatively short time ; but it 
would be an education which in many cases ended almost with the cradle and 
left 39 per cent of its recipients totally illiterate a few years after its cessation. 
This is the real crux of the problem. At the moment that a boy reaches a 
stage of reasonable intelligence he also becomes a useful economic asset, and 
even if he has not at once to begin labor in the field or factory, the utility 
of further study ceases to be apparent. To overcome this attitude we must 
look partly to better teaching, possibly to the addition of vocational classes, 
but mainly to the economic changes which are slowly permeating the country — 
agricultural progress, cooperative movements, and the growth of industries 
* * * . It is on economic progress that the future rests. We can not expect 
to see in India a literate and intelligent proletariat until that progress has 
permitted the provision of the necessary funds for more schools and more 
efficient schools and brought about the necessary change in the attitude of the 
people. 

An interesting phase of primary education for native children is 
seen in that provided since 1916 by the Government for the children, 
and more especially the orphans of Indians serving the Empire in 
the Great War. Liberal grants have been made to the provincial 
school officials for aid to such children studying in the primary 
schools and also for the purpose of establishing new schools along 
modern lines in localities where needed. A striking feature is that 
all such provisions are applicable to girls as well as boys. Any 
child whose father is certified to have been slain or incapacitated in 
the service is entitled to free primary education with graduated 
allowance or to free scholarship in any middle school or to compete 
for scholarships in higher education. The Madras presidency led 
the way early in the war in exempting the children of actual com- 
batants in the service from payment of all fees in the elementary 
schools. The amount presented by the women of India as a silver 
wedding gift to the Queen-Empress has at her request been devoted 
to the education of the children of fallen Indian soldiers. The Bom- 
bay presidency was the first to establish a technical school not only 
for adolescent children but also for disabled Indian soldiers for 
instruction in the trades. 

A problem unique to India is the education of backward and de- 
pressed classes, such as the aboriginal, and hill and forest tribes, 
the classes subject to caste discrimination and neglect, the criminal 
tribes, and the communities, religious and racial, which present special 
problems. Naturally these classes vary so vastly from Province to 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 77 

Province, and even within the same Province, in the causes underlying 
their condition and their needs, and in the methods to be used in their 
instruction, that no general rule can be laid down. The directors 
of public instruction are uniformly alive to the appeal made by these 
classes, educationally and socially, and a growing determination to 
minister adequately to them is manifest in the last reports of educa- 
tion in India. In this work the aid of the mission agencies has 
been invaluable. By years of patient toil they win the confidence of 
these classes, learn their tongue, found schools, and reduce to writ- 
ing languages which have never been written. 

Even more pathetic is the condition of the depressed classes, for 
they suffer more acutely from the immemorial tyranny of the caste 
system. As is evident, this question is complicated by many of the 
most subtly difficult phases of Indian social life. Here again Govern- 
ment schools must be supplemented by missionaries, both Christian 
and native; but throughout there must be taken into account the 
difficulty of securing as teachers natives of the better caste. Work 
among the criminal tribes, which only a generation ago were a 
terror in most of the Provinces of India, has been steadily pursued. 
An interesting fact is that the most successful agency for dealing 
with such tribes is the Salvation Army, which has established set- 
tlements remote from civilization and is imparting systematic indus- 
trial and moral training. Unequally applied, but of general use in 
the education of these classes, are such measures as special in- 
spection under the auspices of the Government, scholarships and 
fee exemptions, a special system of hostels under moral control, in- 
struction in industries and in weaving, carpentry, and silk culture. 

The subject of the teachers upon w T hom primary vernacular educa- 
tion devolves is necessarily a most important one. The salaries, as 
all the directors freely admit, are inadequate, though what is deemed 
some improvement has taken place during the five years under con- 
sideration. In the representative Provinces of Madras, Bombay, Ben- 
gal, and the Punjab, the average salary is, respectively, 10, 1 28, 7.5, 
and 12 rupees. In Burma it is the highest in the Empire, being 40 
rupees per month. The dire necessity of supplementing salaries in 
various ways is a significant commentary upon the real situation. 
Teachers in many places are granted very precarious fees ; again, they 
serve as branch postmasters, an arrangement long criticized, but still 
continued by the authorities ; and in the more remote settlements they 
eke out their salaries by having charge of the cattle pounds, sanita- 
tion, and registration of cattle in the district. As the directors 
recognize in their reports, the raising of the standard of teachers and 
their place in the public estimation can only come from increase of 
salaries. 



J The rupee is estimated to be worth about 32 cents. 



78 BIENNIAL SUKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

SECONDARY EDUCATION. 

The division of secondary education into the vernacular and the 
Anglo- vernacular shows the extent of the departure from the uniform 
character of primary education. As regards the grading in this di- 
vision, it includes the middle standard, whose exclusive purpose is 
to prepare boys for the high stage; and the high standard, leading 
directly to the colleges or technical school. 

The middle standard is, except in the Central Provinces, entirely 
vernacular, though in most of the Provinces the study of English on 
the literary side is begun with the middle courses. A complicating 
element is also found in the fact that the middle standard usually 
has attached to it the upper primary classes. Indeed, this is the 
case everywhere except in Bombay and the Central Provinces. The 
middle vernacular schools constitute the type usually found in the 
rural districts; but there is increasing complaint that boys of talent 
and even high caste, whose only opportunity such a school is> upon 
its completion can not easily, if at all, be transferred to an English 
school. 

In the few cases where such a transfer can be effected such a boy 
finds himself without the necessary training in English. 

This problem has been clearly seen by most of the directors of 
public instruction. To take a representative Province, in Madras 
the attempt was made to draw a sharp distinction between secondary 
and elementary education. It was hoped that this would compel 
promising native boys to begin the study of English earlier in the 
vernacular school; but the attempt was found impractical, and the 
director reports that further means will have to be sought for prop- 
erly grounding native boys who may be destined for a professional 
or public career, and for protecting the secondary schools from a 
large influx of ill-prepared boys from the elementary schools. 

The high standard, which offers instruction ranging from one to 
three } T ears, is conducted solely through the medium of English, and 
prepares directly for college and technical school. Its curriculum is 
modeled closely upon that of the classical public schools of England, 
such as Eton and Rugby. It naturally appeals almost exclusively 
to the boys of Europeans, and the few native Indian boys, destined 
to governmental employment, who have enjoyed unusual advantages 
of early training from tutors in English and classics. 

The " top-heaviness " characteristic of the system of education in 
India is clearly illustrated in the secondary field. As this division 
is practically restricted to boys, the comparison must be instituted 
with the number of boys in the primary. This, in 1917, was 5,614,- 
633, being 4.5 per cent of the total male population. In secondary 
education, the total enrollment for the same year was approximately 



PEOGKESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 79 

1,250,000, being 1 per cent of the total male population, and an 
even more striking increase of 28.3 per cent for the quinquennium 
under consideration. Here is met the most significant feature in 
Indian education, the numerical increase in secondary education. 
This varies from Province to Province, Bengal marking the highest , 
percentage, having 35.8 of all the secondary schools, and 35 per cent 
of all the secondary pupils in India. But the phenomenon is marked 
in them all. If Bengal may be taken as representative, the director 
finds the following reasons for so extraordinary a popularity : 

1. The partition of Bengal into two governmental districts with 
more effective administrative and financial handling. 

2. The fostering of education by the Government, especially 
among the Mohammedans, a people traditionally inclined to edu- 
cation. 

3. The prevailing high mark of prosperity, with the consequent 
ambition of the middle class to advance their children by means of 
secondary education into professional careers and governmental civil 
service. 

With this phenomenal increase in secondary education, however, 
it was not to be expected that there should be a corresponding 
improvement in the extent to which it answers the needs of the native 
population, though in every Province earnest attempts have been 
made to make it do so. The provincial governments have everywhere 
recognized their responsibility to provide facilities at the larger 
centers, and have striven to relieve local bodies of the increased ex- 
penses of secondary education, to leave local funds free for use in 
elementary instruction, and above all to improve the salaries and 
living conditions of teachers. But after all has been done, it is 
still recognized that the crowding of ill-prepared native students 
into secondary schools, the inevitable corollary of the inertia of the 
primary schools remains an evil which disastrously affects the whole 
system. 

In 1916, the Government of India submitted an exhaustive scheme 
for the approval of the several Provinces, whose main features were 
the reorganization of the service to which the graduates of high 
schools might aspire, the opening of additional high schools, the 
systematic financing of middle English schools by the Government, 
and a thorough overhauling of schedules and programs of studies. 
Another suggestion has been that the provincial government pre- 
scribe a maximum limit of, say, 40 pupils for high-school classes or 
sections ; Madras and Bombay have already adopted such a limit, 
but the problem still remains unaffected by such palliative measures. 
It has been thought that the trouble lies with the impractical and 
too literary nature of the curricula; and therefore in the advanced 



80 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Provinces, such as Bombay and Madras, science, drawing, and man- 
ual arts have been made compulsory in many high schools, and others 
such as history and geography have been articulated with the life 
of the students. 

In short, while the officials think that solid improvement has taken 
place in the spirit of secondary education and in the sincere desire 
for reform, yet the standard of secondary education is still discour- 
agingly low because of inadequate staff and poor pay of teachers, 
overcrowding and defective discipline. As the educational commis- 
sioner reports: 

The apparently inexhaustible demand for secondary education, combined 
with the difficulty of meeting it in an adequate manner, tends to swainp the 
effects of reform. Existing schools are improved, but new ones spring up, low- 
ering the average of attainment, and undermining discipline. 

According to official reports of the year 1918, the general condition 
of secondary education throughout India at large had shown little 
improvement for several years preceding; but that year marked the 
introduction, in several Provinces, of important changes in the sys- 
tem of examinations in secondary schools. Details differ from 
Province to Province ; but the common tendency has been to abolish 
the old blanket permit of college or university matriculation, and 
to stiffen up the examination or leaving certificate required by the 
individual secondary school. Examination upon a minimum of cer- 
tain specified subjects is required. This move is interesting as run- 
ning counter to the trend of modern secondary educational thought, 
which, certainly in the west, is setting ever more steadily toward 
easier articulation between the secondarv school and the higher in- 
stitution, and toward less emphasis upon examinations pure and 
simple. In India, however, it is only fair to point out the abuses 
which developed under the old system of easy matriculation, which 
was perhaps chiefly responsible for the swollen enrollment of the 
higher institutions with their masses of ill-prepared students. 

A material feature of secondary education in India must not be 
passed over without notice. This is the institution of the so-called 
" hostel," by which is meant the boarding hall under the direct super- 
vision of the school, with varying arrangements as to mess halls, 
and presided over by either the school head or one of the older as- 
sistants. As a large number of native bovs do not live in close 
proximity to schools of secondary grade, and must attend such 
schools more or less distant, the importance of the hostel in their 
school life can not be overrated. The hostels naturally vary ex- 
tremely in their character and in the habits of regularity, method, 
orderliness, and cleanliness which they inculcate. The negligent 
and even criminal conditions, with insanitary lodgings and exposure 



PKOGEESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 81 

to temptations, which have been discovered in many instances, have 
aroused directors and students of education to the duty of the 
State to see that so large a proportion of the school population shall 
live in a wholesome environment. Under compelling circumstances 
as they exist at present, it is recognized that the hostel system can 
not be done away with, but must be accepted, improved, and even 
extended. The Province of Madras in particular (where one boy 
in every five in secondary schools lives away from home) has grappled 
with the situation by a systematic study of the character and condi- 
tions of the hostels within its borders. 

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES. 

The Indian colleges are divided into those which offer a general 
education and do not especially prepare candidates for any pro- 
fession, and those which do prepare students for the professions. 
The former class fall usually under the head of colleges of arts and 
general science, themselves being subdivided into English and 
oriental colleges, with the latter of which we are not here concerned. 
The arts colleges, which train students by the medium of the Eng- 
lish language in the usual subjects, are divided into first and second 
grade colleges. The latter, approaching in character and purposes 
the American junior college, do not confer a degree. The first- 
grade college graduates the students in all academic degrees and 
even offers a full graduate course. 

While the colleges do not vary essentially in organization from 
Province to Province, they do vary decidedly in historical develop- 
ment, in number, in location, and in efficiency. Madras represents 
one extreme in the considerable number of scattered colleges, and of 
the second-grade and mission colleges; while Bombay and the 
Punjab represent the other extreme, that of the so-called "intensive 
development," grouping all eight of her colleges in three great 
centers. Following the English model, the colleges of all Provinces 
are closely affiliated to the universities, their courses and examina- 
tions, and even internal regulation and inspection, being prescribed 
directly by the universities. In certain Provinces, as in the case of 
Bengal, the university has power to annul the action of the college 
authorities in the matter of students' appeals from decisions and in 
the arrangement and conduct of hostels and mess rooms. 

Among the pressing problems connected with the methods and 
the success of college instruction, the chief perhaps arises from the 
fact that the staff is usually ineffective in number for the great size 
of the classes under its charge. This complaint is voiced in most 
of the reports of the provincial directors. The situation is but an- 
other symptom of the "top-heaviness" already dwelt upon. In 1917 
the colleges numbered 13-i, and showed an enrollment of 47,000 
129488°—19 6 



82 BIENNIAL, SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

students, both native and European; registering a percentage of 
four-hundredths of one per cent of the total male population, and 
an increase of 60 per cent since 1912. 

Within the past five years the question of the exclusive use of 
English as the medium of instruction in the colleges has come to the 
front, after having lain dormant since the early thirties, when Lord 
Macaulay's famous minute convinced the Government of India of 
the necessity of English as the only means of instruction. The 
Province of Bengal has led the way in declaring for bilingual in- 
struction in the courses of its colleges, the other language being 
Bengali. This decision was arrived at after mature consideration 
of the claims of all languages spoken in the Province and the estab- 
lishment of the fact that a considerably larger proportion of students 
use Bengali as their native tongue than any other. This decision, 
furthermore, does not affect the subject or content of courses offered 
nor relieve the student from satisfying the requirements in English 
literature and composition both at entrance and in course. 

The tutorial system of studies, favored by most directors, under the 
direct influence of the English system, is profoundly and adversely 
affected by conditions varying with financial inability, with indi- 
vidual numbers- of students, and with attainments of the tutors them- 
selves. The tutorial system is most firmly established in the colleges 
of the Punjab ; elsewhere it has at best a precarious footing. 

As regards the conditions under which the students live, the 
hostel system which has been considered in secondary education plays 
also a large part in the colleges. Because of the maturity of college 
students as compared with those in the middle and high schools, the 
system is regarded as most successful in the colleges. The director 
of public instruction in Bengal thus summarizes the place of the 
hostel : 

Some parents whose sons could attend from home are said to prefer their 
residence in hostels because of the good influence which it exercises. Other 
means are used to promote corporate life and common interest. In Calcutta 
(where residential arrangements are defective) the colleges of the university 
acquired a fine building for social gatherings of students and their elders. 
In the well-managed colleges throughout India there is now an esprit de corps 
and a vigor of life which contrasts refreshingly with the languidly laborious 
existence which less favorably situated students still endure. Athletics, literary, 
debating, and scientific societies, and the production of magazines are usual 
features of college life, taking to some extent the place of general reading, 
which has not the same attraction for Indian as for English youths. 

The five universities of India — those of Calcutta, Bombay, Madras, 
the Punjab, and Allahabad — were founded within the first 30 years 
of British rule, and until five years ago were considered as meeting 
all demands for the country. Their constitutions are modeled largely 
upon those of the English universities: They are governed by a 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 83 

chancellor (the Viceroy cr the governor of the Province), a vice 
chancellor, a senate diversely made up but along the lines laid down 
at Oxford and Cambridge, faculties and boards of studies, and 
finally a syndicate in whom are vested extraordinary powers of ap- 
peal and review. With the enormous increase in secondary educa- 
tion, the five years under review saw the awakening of a need for 
additional universities of various kinds. The Hindu university at 
Benares and the university at Patna opened their doors in October, 
1917; the university of Mysore, under legislative incorporation of the 
Province, in July, 1917. The Indian university for women, a private 
institution, with scattered branches whose administrative center is 
at Poona, was founded in 1917. 

The constitution and aims of the first mentioned are significant. 
It is frankly denominational, admitting persons of all classes, castes, 
and creeds, but imparting religious instruction in the Hindu tenets. 
It is sustained by large private and popular contributions, and begins 
on a more independent plane than airy other hitherto known. The 
jDosts of chancellor and vice chancellor will be filled by the governing 
body. It is not — as are most of the other universities — an affiliating 
body controlling colleges scattered over a vast area, but its jurisdic- 
tion is limited to Benares and such colleges as may be established 
there. Important innovations are made in the constitution and 
functions of the several bodies which govern it, of which the main 
features are that administration is vested in a court composed of 
donors and persons chosen by various bodies, and that all academic 
control is vested in a senate consisting not necessarily of teachers in 
the , university but of outsiders elected by the senate itself. 

Of the schemes pending for the establishment of additional uni- 
versities, most important is. that for a university in Burma. This 
has grown steadily in popular interest during the five years under 
consideration, and plans are ripe for fruition within the next two 
years. 

That a new conception of the purposes of higher educational train- 
ing is permeating those in charge of Indian affairs is evident from 
the summary of college and university education in India given by 
Dr. Sharp, educational commissioner, in his seventh quinquennial 
review (1912-17) : 

Thus two lines of development are running side by side. The old universities 
continue mainly, as they were in the past affiliating institutions. * * * 
Meantime, new universities are springing into life — some, replicas of the old, 
but with smaller areas and with an endeavor at partial concentration around 
the university sight ; others completely centralized and primarily -teaching in- 
stitutions. It is recognized that university problems in India are of a far- 
reaching nature, and that the best professional advice is requisite at the 
present juncture. * * * His excellency Lord Chelmsford, in addressing 
the recipients of degrees at Calcutta said : " Only the other day I asked a 



84 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

law student why he was taking up law, with all its risks and disappointments. 
He answered, What else is there for me to take up? I am not going to discuss 
his answer, but this I will say, it is my sincere hope, and it is the policy of 
my Government, to endeavor by all means in our power to open up other 
avenues of employment. So long as students think that the only avenues of 
employment are in the legal and clerical professions, so long shall we get con- 
gestion and overcrowding in those professions, with consequent discourage- 
ment, disappointment, and discontent. Our policy then is first to secure that 
there shall be as many opportunities of a livelihood opened to the educated 
classes and next to endeavor to divert the students into channels other than 
those of law and Government clerical employ." 



TECHNICAL, INDUSTRIAL, AND AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION. 

The recognition of the vast economic and social value of practical 
lines of education in India has been seen in the Montagu -Chelmsford 
Report. It is also everywhere emphasized in the reports of the 
directors of public instruction for the several Provinces. A sig- 
nificant trend is also showing itself in the action of the local govern- 
ments in depending more and more upon advisory committees whose 
duty it is to study the needs of the individual Province, peculiarly 
with reference to technical and industrial education, and to give 
expert advice both in management and in general policy. The 
adaptation of modern education to a country like India, for ages im- 
movable in her social and educational ideas, is necessarily most com- 
plicated. 

Perhaps the outstanding feature to be recorded of the five years 
under consideration is the work of a committee representing the 
Provinces at large upon the education of civil engineers. This com- 
mittee considered carefully such questions as a low age limit for 
students entering engineering schools, requirements for admission 
to such, minimum knowledge of English necessary, articulation with 
Government colleges, in short all the problems confronting the de- 
velopment of an increasing body of native students of engineering. 

It is agreed that only in the development of such a native body, 
both in engineering and allied lines of practical training, can means 
be found to stem the flow of young Hindus into the law and Gov- 
ernment service. 

The urgent need of industrial education began to make itself felt 
about 15 years ago, when a committee appointed by Lord Curzon 
suggested an apprentice system maintained by the State. In addi- 
tion, the Imperial Government encouraged the establishment by the 
local governments of trade schools of various grades. The next 10 
years saw many schemes, some fanciful, most too costly, and others 
still impracticable, put into operation. In Madras and Bengal espe- 
cially the schemes for industrial education in weaving, dyeing, 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 85 

mechanical engineering, and plumbing were most practical and fruit- 
ful. It is interesting to note that the scheme for the State training 
of apprentices was dropped, but led to the establishment of Govern- 
ment trade schools, where continuation classes are provided for 
youths still in the employ of various firms, an interesting anticipa- 
tion of provisions in the Fisher Act. On the whole, however, indus- 
trial education in India has hitherto attained only a limited measure 
of success. The causes, racial and governmental, lie deep below the 
surface; but that the situation is capable of improvement and that 
it is improving is emphasized by the directors of the advanced 
Provinces. 

The sign of greatest promise is the existence of the Indian Indus- 
trial Commission, with its encouragement of practical instruction in 
manual arts and domestic science in the common primary and ele- 
mentary schools. The report of this commission, presented early in 
1919, makes the radical recommendation that the general control of 
noncollegiate industrial and technical education should be trans- 
ferred to the Department of Industries, though the cooperation of 
the Education Department can not be dispensed with. The commis- 
sion feels that an education purporting to train for industrial life 
must have direct organic connection with industries and industrial 
employers; that teachers and inspectors should be trained by the 
Industries Department not merely for independent schools but also 
for industrial and technical apprentice classes annexed to commer- 
cial plants. 

The Government of India has never lost sight of the supreme im- 
portance of agricultural education in India. This is one subject 
that is free from complications, inasmuch as its two fundamental 
objects — the improvement of agricultural methods and the better- 
ment of the material and economic conditions of the vast mass of the 
people of India — confront all students of the subject on the threshold. 

To devise ways to reach influential classes, such as the landed and 
more prosperous cultivating class, a number of conferences partici- 
pated in by students of general education as well as of agriculture 
have been held. Chief of these was that held in Simla in June, 1917, 
at which were represented all the Provinces of the Empire. It 
recommended the foundation of agricultural middle schools, the 
specific training of teachers for such schools, the adaptation of pri- 
mary education to rural needs, the establishment of an agricultural 
college in each of the principal Provinces of India, and the more 
general diffusion of agricultural knowledge among the mass of the 
people by the demonstration of improved methods and by instruc- 
tion brought to the illiterate tiller of the soil. 

Most of the agricultural colleges in existence report a grave lack 
of interest among the people, as evinced by the small number of 



86 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

students generally attending and by the even more serious lack of 
demand for specially trained men on the part of the landholders 
and agents of large tracts. Attempts have been made to increase 
interest in individual colleges by reducing the length of course and 
by offering practical courses rather than those upon scientific sub- 
jects. Most of the so-called agricultural colleges, according to re- 
ports, are very little more than secondary schools. 

THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS. 

With the stirring of reform movements in Government, and the 
proposal to extend suffrage to women, the education of women in 
India has become within the five years under consideration a burn- 
ing question, such as was never anticipated it would be. Speaking 
generally, little provision is made in the governmental schools of 
India, vernacular or Anglo-vernacular, for the education of girls. 
They are educated mainly in special schools, which are generally 
private except in districts where, as in the Central Provinces, the 
Government has taken over control. Only in Burma, where ex- 
tremely early marriage does not prevail, are the schools mixed. 

The subject is, like so many others, complicated by innumerable tra- 
ditions and social limitations. According to the inspectresses of va- 
rious districts, difficulty is experienced in securing Indian ladies of 
position to work upon local committees, in attracting women of 
proper character, attainments, and caste to work as teachers, in secur- 
ing regular attendance, in inducing girls to remain in school for a 
reasonable length of time, and back of all in combating and overcom- 
ing the age-old hostility to educating women at all. Despite these 
social as well as educational difficulties, however, the great increase 
of 29.2 per cent is to be recorded for the past five years in the total 
number of native girls under instruction in India. This for 1916-17 
reached the surprising total of nearly 1,300,000 girls. More impor- 
tant than the increase in numbers is the change which is being 
wrought in the attitude of the public, a change which applies not only 
to the essentials of primary education, but also to secondary schools. 
Authorities agree that : 

Indian public opinion has slowly changed from its former attitude of positive 
dislike to the education of women and is now much more favorable as regards 
every community. * * * Professional men now wish to marry their sons to 
educated girls who can be in a real sense companions and helpmates ; therefore 
education is beginning to be valued by parents as improving the marriage 
prospects of their daughters. 

A large part of the credit for the advance of female education is 
clue to the fact that the quality of teaching in schools for girls is 
better than in those for boys. This is especially pronounced in sec- 



PEOGRESS OF EDUCATION IE" INDIA. 87 

onclary schools, both those under mission management and those, as 
in the Central Provinces, maintained by the Government. Again, 
modern courses in industrial and vocational subjects have been intro- 
duced in many girls' schools, and increased attention has been paid 
to physical training. Here immediate results of modern diet and 
training have been most pronounced. 

Another interesting phase of women's education well shows how 
closely related are social and educational considerations in India. 
The institution of extremely early marriage, and its concomitant of 
a large number of child widows in the great Brahman States of 
Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, have led school authorities to take 
measures for the education of that element of the population which 
has hitherto been neglected and led a sad and useless life. For the 
most part such Brahman child widows are distinctly intelligent and 
their training as teachers, especially for secondary schools, has 
been attended with marked success. The school authorities see in 
this a powerful incentive toward the popularizing of secondary 
education amongst the Hindu people. 

A word should be said as to the encroachment of English educa- 
tion for girls upon the vernacular education. From all reports, the 
appreciation of English education is growing, largely because in the 
public mind English influences are held responsible for the exist- 
ence of any education for women at all. Some authorities see the 
future of girls' education as lying in a judicious extension of the mid- 
dle English schools, whose graduates should furnish a nucleus of edu- 
cated opinion as well as a trained corps of teachers. The director 
of public instruction for Bengal vigorously summarizes the situ- 
ation : 

We mar at least hope that in dealing with the education of girls, we shall 
not repeat the mistakes wfoch have been made in the education of boys. There 
will be no excuse if we do, for the girls of Bengal with comparatively few excep- 
tions do not have to be trained to scramble in the open market for a living 
* * * For many years yet secondary and higher education will be confined 
to the few. Is it too much to hope that we shall be able so to order things 
that the education given will be a reality? There is only one way of accom- 
plishing this, and that is by securing cultured and sympathetic women to work 
as inspectresses and in colleges and schools and by giving these women as free 
a hand a possible. If we determine to do this and do not shrink from the bill- 
it will not be an unlimited liability — we shall be giving Indian women a chance. 

EDUCATION OF MOHAMMEDANS. 

The discussion of Indian education, as has been seen, centers, pre- 
dominantly around that of the native population. Up to this point 
general lines have been laid down which include all races and creeds 
without discrimination. But there is an element of the native popu- 
lation so distinct and so tenacious of creed and customs that special 



88 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

mention must be made of it. This is the Mohammedan population 
of British India, which comprises (1917) 58,000,000 souls, or slightly 
less than one-fourth of the total. It is the only racial group whose 
adjustment to the uniform educational system of the country once 
seemed fraught with grave difficulties. But time has brought tact 
and understanding to the authorities in their dealings with the 
Mohamedans. Racial and religious barriers have been so broken 
down that in the Provinces showing the highest Mohamedan popula- 
tion — Bengal, the Punjab, the Northwest Frontier Province, and in 
some of the native administrations under British protection — the 
Mohammedans had proportionately a larger number of children in 
the lowest vernacular schools recognized by the Government than any 
other race. 

But there are certain difficulties still inherent in the situation. 
The Mohammedan religious authorities require the child to attend 
the Mosque before he does any other. This results in the Mohamme- 
dan boy's commencing his regular schooling at a later age than the 
average. The alien languages to be learned, and the poverty of 
large sections of Mohammedan communities (where many converts 
are from the depressed classes) have worked to reduce the numbers 
in the higher standards of the primary vernacular schools mate- 
rially, to say nothing of those in the institutions of higher education. 

A further important element in the situation is the small number 
of Mohammedans engaged as teachers in the Government system. 
This is, among others, a result of the strict religious obligations 
laid by purely Mohammedan education upon its graduates to re- 
main faithful to Islamic teachings. Thus conditions for both teach- 
ers and pupils of Mohammedan faith are not favorable to the 
development of confidence in the Government schools. In Bengal 
the authorities have steadily endeavored to develop such confidence 
by special concessions to Mohammedans and the assignment of a 
large proportion of official posts to be filled by them. 

None of the measures indicated, however, has been recognized 
as adequately meeting the situation, and the authorities have re- 
peatedly authorized the Mohammedans to start their own schools 
under their own committees, with full facilities for religious in- 
struction and observance. Such schools are: (1) Those which teach 
the ordinary course of elementary subjects; (2) those which started 
as native schools but have modified the prescribed curriculum: and 
(3) those which are indifferent to government recognition and have 
their own scheme of studies. The number of Mohammedan schools 
necessarily varies widely from Province to Province, secondary 
schools being specially well developed among them. In Bengal 
especially there is the unique combination of what are really middle 



PROGRESS OF EDUCATION IN INDIA. 89 

English schools with, separate departments using Arabic as a medium 
of instruction and teaching Arabic literature. 

Three colleges are maintained by the Mohammedans, which mark 
a distinct advance in the reconciliation of the turbulent quarrels 
of the frontier tribes, many students being drawn from the non- 
Mohammedan population. There is an increasing demand for col- 
lege education among the Mohammedans in Bengal, and the next 
few years bid fair to see additional colleges initiated to meet this 
demand. 

To sum up the situation : The English educational officials are 
much encouraged by the marked increase in the number of Mo- 
hammedans resorting to the schools giving instruction along modern 
lines. Indeed, the number of Mohammedan pupils has steadily 
grown to be larger in proportion to the number of this group than 
those of all races and creeds together. The increase of Moham- 
medan pupils in the Government schools is a convincing proof that 
even among this stubborn group — 

the old prejudice against modern forms of thought and exclusive adherence 
to the orthodox subjects are dying away. Views are broadening. It is seen 
that instruction in special schools is often inferior — if only because the staff 
is inferior. * * * The special school that teaches unnecessary or useless 
subjects is waning in popularity. The cry is still for special institutions, but 
of the type that will fit the Musselman for the developments of modern life 
while yet keeping him a Musselman. 

EDUCATION OF EUROPEANS IN INDIA. 

While the study of Indian education primarily concerns itself 
with instruction imparted to native children, who comprise the 
overwhelming majority of all school children throughout the Indian 
Empire, yet the education of the children and youth of European 
descent should not be overlooked. In the nature of things a different 
background of tradition and inheritance is possessed by the Euro- 
pean, and his children, no matter how humble or to what employ- 
ment destined, have essentially another outlook on life from that of 
the native, and in most instances children of European descent, 
whether pure or mixed, retain European habits and modes of life. 
As late as the close of the past century social distinction brought 
about the result that children of English officials were sent to Eng- 
land in early infancy, there to be educated, or in the more healthful 
hill Provinces special schools were privately organized and main- 
tained for them. At the same time the children of the poorer Euro- 
peans and those of mixed blood were left to be educated largely by 
charity and in schools especially founded by private and religious 
benefactions. 



90 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

Of recent years not only has the European population of the lead- 
ing Provinces of India increased exceedingly with the development of 
commerce and industries, but it has come to be recognized as the 
moral duty of an enlightened State to assume the instruction of all 
children whose domestic circumstances can not afford them adequate 
schooling. The original character of the schools for European chil- 
dren has, however, remained, and even where governmental grants 
are assigned it is usually to schools founded and managed on re- 
ligious and denominational lines. In return for the grant of aid the 
Government does not always require a share in the management. 
The case of Bengal may be taken as representative. Out of 79 insti- 
tutions for the training of European children only 5 are managed by 
the Government; 15 are undenominational, most of them being 
schools maintained by the industrial corporations for the children 
of their employees; the remainder, 59, belong to various religious 
bodies. This denominational character, although the powerful fac- 
tor in the existence of such schools, has come to be regarded as 
leading to some waste of effort, and the Government has begun to 
encourage the consolidation of such schools wherever local condi- 
tions make it possible. Such schools are visited by a special inspector 
in each of the larger Provinces, but beyond good sanitary and health 
conditions no very rigid requirements are exacted. 

In Provinces and districts where denominational and private 
schools have not been founded, the Government has addressed itself 
seriously to the long-neglected question of the education of Euro- 
peans. Since the historic conference on this branch of education 
held at Simla in 1912, presided over by the governor of the Punjab, 
and including representatives of the various interests of European 
life in India, interest has steadily grown. The system of compul- 
sory education, of which the conference declared itself in favor, met 
surprising opposition from the local governments, the claim being- 
made that the voluntary system of attendance was found to be 
working effectively. This, however, has been questioned by social 
workers in the large cities. Especially in the city of Madras the im- 
perial grant of 30,000 rupees for the extension of education among 
the poorer classes was gratefully welcomed in consideration of the 
undeniably large number of European children not reached. 

Separate European education naturally enrolls the overwhelming 
majority of its pupils in the primary stages. Embracing the middle 
school, 9, 10, and, in a few instances, 11 grades are offered, the sub- 
jects being practically the same as those taught in corresponding 
European schools. An interesting feature is that the second language 
required may be either Latin or a modern European language or an 
Indian vernacular. In regard to high-school work, the conference 
above referred to recommended for the high schools for boys a more 



PEOGEESS OF EDUCATION I1ST INDIA. 91 

modern and practical curriculum with a few schools which should 
prepare boys for the universities and the professions and be called 
collegiate schools. The latter clause, however, owing to the disagree- 
ment of local governments and the Imperial Government of India, 
which thought the need amply met by practical training, was not 
put into execution. 1 As a matter of fact the peculiar defect of Euro- 
pean governmental education in India is that it makes scant provi- 
sion for continuing the education of promising boys. A few en- 
deavor to go to England, and those unable to do this are admitted 
to the colleges for Indians, where they enjoy all advantages. Most 
of the directors report satisfactory progress in the European schools 
in their Provinces, and interest in this field is shown by the proposal 
for a training college for teachers in southern India. Methods and 
instruction are reported as still improving, in spite of the losses of 
many teachers to military service. 

TKAI^TNTG OF TEACHERS. 

The broad distinction between the English and the vernacular 
schools is also carried out in the classification of teachers. Teachers 
trained in the English schools serve in secondary schools exclusively ; 
teachers trained in the vernacular institutions serve almost exclu- 
sively in primary schools but to some extent also in secondary 
schools. The former class are trained according to English methods 
in the 15 special colleges and call for no further notice. The latter 
are of great importance in the system of Indian education, but their 
training lacks much of being what it should be. The Government of 
India has always been alive to the necessity of having a supply of 
teachers for primary schools adequate both in number and in attain- 
ments; but progress has been hampered in the many ways already 
shown in the treatment of primary education. 

In August, 1916, the Government of India issued a circular letter 
to local governments pointing out the inadequacy of the arrange- 
ments in many Provinces for the training of teachers for secondary 
and primary schools, and suggesting as a minimum standard that 
the number of teachers to be trained in each year should not be less 
than the number of new teachers who must be provided to take the 
place of those who have died or resigned or to meet the demands 
created by the extension of education. Since then considerable im- 
provements have been effected, but no improvement can be f uncla- 

1 It is interesting to record that this problem was attempted in Madras, where a very 
progressive schedule of studies, allowing three alternative courses, has been introduced 
in the middle schools. The first was for pupils who did not intend to pursue their edu- 
cation ; the second prepared for the high school with studies leading to college and 
university ; and the third prepared for business. Madras also has the credit of being 
the first to provide especial vocational and domestic economy training, an example 
which has since been followed by some of the schools in Bombay. 



92 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

mental unless the teacher's profession is so elevated socially and 
financially as to attract an adequate number of candidates of the 
proper stamp. This has been attempted by increasing salaries, the 
effect of which has been to increase the numbers of the applicants 
in many Provinces, if not to elevate the quality. Of the approxi- 
mately 190,000 teachers of the vernacular, barely 60,000 are trained. 

The magnitude of the problem is serious. If the wastage of teach- 
ers of the vernacular be estimated at 6 per cent each year, the train- 
ing institutions should turn out 12,000 teachers a year. But in 1917 
the number turned out was only a little below 9,000. Thus the nor- 
mal supply is not maintained, to say nothing of the increase necess- 
ary for extension. 

Students enrolled in the higher vernacular training institutions 
are required to have completed the middle course in the vernacular 
or Anglo-vernacular schools, and upon graduation they are certifi- 
cated to be teachers in secondary vernacular schools or to be head- 
masters of primary schools. These are the distinctive normal 
schools, their training extending over periods of from one to three 
years according to the Province concerned. Schools of a lower type 
are attended by students who have completed only the upper primary 
grades, and they offer shorter courses for the training of ordinary 
teachers in primary schools. 

It is the improvement in the students frequenting this latter class 
of schools that is the task of supreme importance in the training of 
teachers. The several Provinces differ in the attention bestowed 
upon the one or the other of the two lines of teacher training, and 
in the content and thoroughness of the courses offered. The prob- 
lem of improvement has been most seriously attacked in the Province 
of Madras, where, as the report shows, modern methods are much 
needed : 

As regards the methods followed in the training schools, criticism and model 
lessons are generally suitably conducted. A weaker point in the training is 
the work in the practicing section. With the existing nunfbers it is difficult 
to give the students sufficient practical work, nor does it appear to be suffi- 
ciently recognized that the practical work done must be thoroughly supervised, 
scrutinized, and discussed with the students. The teaching of the subjects of 
general education is variously reported upon. With their better staffs, the 
Government schools are better than the aided. Nature study seems to be 
the weakest subject and garden work poor. * * * Criticisms are also 
heard of the teaching of geography and the vernacular. On the whole, how- 
ever, real progress appears to have been made. 

GENERAL CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion, the note of encouragement and optimism voiced in 
the reports of the several directors of public instruction seems justi- 
fied, and a net result of progress during the quinquennium is to be 



EDUCATION IN EGYPT. 93 

recorded despite the retrogression in certain districts and in certain 
branches of education which are inseparable from the economic and 
other effects of the war. As Dr. Sharp summarizes the situation in 
his concluding paragraph upon the general progress of education in 
India : 

There is no denying the fact that while public interest in education has in- 
creased, public opinion so far as it is expressed often remains crude and un- 
formed. Press utterances are frequently actuated by vested interests or politi- 
cal motives. The criticism of measures of reform is attractive and the student 
community is a valuable political asset. * * * There is a tendency to lower 
standards and to oppose their improvement. Publicists support pupils in acts 
of indiscipline, openly blaming the teachers and deprecating punishment. 
* * * Below these manifestations there is a great body of sound public 
opinion. Nor is it always inarticulate. An important section of the press has, 
during the quinquennium, approached educational questions in the spirit of the 
educator. This is a hopeful sign. But before a thoroughly sound advance can 
be made it is essential that educational questions should be regarded on their 
own merits, that the teacher should come into his own and that due values 
should be set upon the respective merits of knowledge and of understanding. 



EDUCATION IN EGYPT. 1 



Egypt was declared a British protectorate on December 18, 1914. 
The ruler under the title of sultan, formerly khedive, and the Council 
of Ministers form the government. The authority of Great Britain 
is vested in the British Resident, the British advisers of each minis- 
try, and inspectors of the various departments in the 14 Provinces. 
Education is controlled by the Ministry of Education or the central 
authority and the councils, or the local authority for education. 
Xo close cooperation exists between these two kinds of bodies. The 
majority of the population is illiterate. According to the 1907 
census, 96 per cent were unable to read and write. At present only 
3 per cent of the population are attending elementary schools. A 
scheme is, however, under way which aims to establish efficient 
schools for at least 10 per cent of the population within the jiext 30 
years. The net expenditure of the Egyptian Government on educa- 
tion represents less than 2 per cent of the annual budget. This sum 
is intended primarily to cover the expenses of the Europeanized 
course of education designed to fit Egyptians for various branches 
of the public service and for professional careers. The education of 
the masses is intrusted to provincial councils or the local authorities, 
who make provision for elementary schools in their areas. 

BUDGET. 

The expenditure of the Ministry of Education for 1918-19 
amounts to $2,858,941, which is an increase of $548,216 over the esti- 

1 Based upon the note of the Ministry of Education on educational organization and 
policy. 



94 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

unites of tlie preceding year, when the credits granted were lower by 
$186,7:2 7 than the prewar level of 1914-15. 

Education of Egypt is now clearly crystalizing into two systems: 
The Europeanized, which aims at providing education chiefly for 
the wealthier circles of society, and the vernacular, which aims at 
providing a practical education for the rest of the population. The 
Europeanized system is modern. The vernacular is old and indig- 
enous. The primary schools form the basis of the Europeanized 
system. 

INFANT CLASSES AND SCHOOLS. 

Infant classes are at present provided in girls' primary schools 
only. As some knowledge of reading is required for entrance to 
primary schools, the ministry is making provision for the establish- 
ment of two infant schools for boys, one in Cairo and one in 
Alexandria. 

PRIMARY SCHOOLS. 

The Ministry of Education at present maintains 30 boys' primary 
schools, attended by 6,716 pupils. The provincial councils maintain 
27 boys' primary schools, attended by 2,892 pupils, and give grants 
in aid to 14 private primary schools attended by 1,985 pupils. There 
are also 42 other private boys' primary schools, attended by 7,999 
boy pupils, under the inspection of the Ministry of Education. 

The girls' primary education is provided at present in three Gov- 
ernment primary girls' schools, attended by 491 pupils. The pro- 
vincial councils maintain 10 primary schools attended by 993, and 
give grants in aid to two other schools with an attendance of 227. 
There are also under the inspection of the ministry 15 private 
girls' schools, attended by 1,726 pupils. The Ministry of Educa- 
tion has thus under its control or under inspection 113 boys' pri- 
mary schools attended by 19, 592 pupils and 30 girls' primary schools, 
attended by 3,437 pupils. 

The staff in the primary schools is exclusively Egyptian, and all 
the instruction is given in Arabic. The curriculum comprises the 
ordinary elementary subjects. English is also taught. In girls* 
schools stress is laid on training in domestic subjects (cooking, 
laundry, housewifery, and home hygiene). The course in boys' 
schools lasts four years; in girls' schools six, the first two years 
constituting infant classes. 

The instruction in the Government primary schools is not free, 
but some provision is made for necessitous children in the primary 
schools belonging to the provincial councils and private benevolent 
societies. 

The primary education certificate, formerly awarded upon the 
completion of the primary school, qualified the pupils for appoint- 
ment in the Government service. This attracted a large number of 



EDUCATION I2\ EGYPT. 95 

pupils who did not intend to pursue higher studies and were thus 
diverted from taking up a more practical course ,of studies. This 
defect was remedied in 1915 when the primary education certificate 
was abolished. In its stead was instituted an entrance examination 
for admission to secondary schools. By this reform the primary 
course lost its mark of self-completeness and came to be regarded 
as an initial stage of the Europeanized system. 

TEE VERNACULAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

The vernacular elementaiy schools, called rnaktabs, aim to meet 
the needs of the population at large. The course lasts four years, 
and, in addition to the ordinary elementary subjects, includes the 
study of the Koran and the tenets of Islam. In girls' schools stress 
is laid on domestic science. The standard in maktab schools is far 
below that maintained in the primary schools. Improvements are 
being introduced gradually. In the Government and in a number 
of other rnaktabs, teachers are paid fixed salaries instead of being 
dependent on school fees. In some places, as for instance in Alex- 
andria, private rnaktabs are being bought out by a special com- 
mission and turned into municipal schools under the inspection of 
the ministry. At present the ministry maintains from its own budget 
two rnaktabs with 209 pupils and manages or inspects 4,263 rnaktabs 
attended by 282,063 pupils. 

HIGHER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 

These schools aim to supplement the meager education received in 
the maktab schools. There are at present 16 higher elementary schools 
attended by 742 boys and 226 girls. These schools are supported by 
the Ministry of Education and the provincial council. The boys' 
higher elementary schools are of two types, urban and rural, with 
a four years' course each. The rural schools offer, in addition to the 
usual literary subjects, lessons in rural science and native study, men- 
suration and surveying, and practical work in the school garden, as 
well as a certain amount of manual training. The urban schools 
have an industrial bias. The school schedule provides among 
other subjects for lessons on materials, machines, and manufactures, 
as well as for a large amount of manual training. These schools 
represent a new development in Egypt. The manual training is in- 
tended to be a means of mental training. The pupils, it is claimed, 
show great delight in manual work, and this reacts favorably on 
their book work. In order to facilitate the development of this new 
type of schools the fees have been considerably reduced. In the 
girls' higher elementary schools the course is limited to three years. 
The instruction is practical, more than one-third of the time being 
devoted to domestic training (needlework, cookery, laundry work, 
housewifery, household accounts, and home hygiene). 



96 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS. 

Secondary schools are the product of the Europeanized system. 
The ministry maintains at present six secondary schools and ar- 
rangements are being made to open a seventh. The schools are 
attended by 2,442 pupils. There are also 28 private secondary schools, 
attended by 4,643 pupils. In 1913 the ministry inaugurated a 
system of grants in aid to private secondary schools. This had a 
marked effect in improving the equipment and efficiency of these 
schools. The ministry has thus under its control or under inspection 
34 secondary schools, attended by 7,085 pupils. There are at present 
no departmental secondary schools for girls, although the ministry 
is planning to create a girls' high school for the children of the well- 
to-do classes. The secondary course for boys extends over four years, 
branching out at the end of the second year into two divisions, 
literary and scientific. The syllabus for the first two years comprises 
Arabic, English, history and geography, mathmernatics, elementary 
physics and drawing, as well as physical training. In the third 
and fourth years, while the teaching of Arabic and English is con- 
tinued, pupils in the literary course begin the study of French and 
follow an extended course in history and geography, while pupils in 
the scientific course do not take up the study of a second foreign 
language but devote their time to extra work in mathematics, science, 
and drawing. The secondary examination is taken in two stages, 
Part I after the second year and Part II on the completion of the 
course. 

INTERMEDIATE TECHNICAL SCHOOLS. 

Admission to the intermediate technical schools is based on the 
primary course of study. The technical schools comprise the Bulak 
Technical School, the Intermediate School of Commerce, both in 
Cairo, and the Intermediate School of Agriculture at Mushtohor. 
The Bulak school has a four years' course of study, the school of 
commerce and that of agriculture only three years. The Bulak 
Technical School is organized in three sections — building construc- 
tion, mechanical and electrical, and arts and crafts. The first two 
schools are under the department of technical education (a branch 
of the Ministry of Education) ; the last is under the Ministry of 
Agriculture. 

The Ministry of Education also maintains model workshops at 
Bulak, Mansura, and Assiut, which are attended by 743 pupils. In 
addition, the provincial councils maintain 12 trades schools, attended 
by 1,643 boys. There are also five trades schools, attended by 531 
boys and 156 girls, in the governorates. These nondepartmental 
trades schools receive grants in aid from the department of tech- 
nical education. The Ministry of Education also maintains one 



EDUCATION IN EGYPT. 97 

domestic school and inspects two private schools. Agricultural 
education is provided at nine agricultural schools, attended by 473 
boys. These schools receive grants in aid from the Ministry of 
Agriculture, which is responsible for the inspection of the schools. 

ELEMENTARY TRAINING COLLEGES FOR MEN AND WOMEN. 

Great progress has been made in recent years in the training of 
teachers, both men and women, for service in the maktabs. It was 
only in 1903 that the first elementary training college was estab- 
lished. At present, in addition to the two men's training colleges 
and two women's training colleges maintained by the Ministry of 
Education, there are in existence 13 training colleges for men and 
10 for women teachers, supported by the provincial councils. The 
four Government colleges are attended by 196 men and 396 women. 
No fees are charged, and in two women's colleges the students are 
lodged and boarded free. The 23 provincial council colleges are 
attended by 1,059 men and 353 women. The Ministry of Educa- 
tion has thus under its control or inspection 27 elementary training- 
colleges, attended by 1,255 men and 749 women. 

The elementary training college course extends over three years. 
The men's colleges are at present recruited mainly direct from the 
maktabs, but also largely from the mosque schools; the women's 
colleges are recruited direct from the maktabs. At present evening 
classes are held in the Bulak Elementary Training College for 
teachers in maktabs in order to improve their competence in kinder- 
garten methods and physical training. As the existing higher 
women's college does not furnish a sufficient supply of teachers for 
the women's elementary training colleges and for the girls' higher 
elementary schools, the ministry has found it necessary to provide 
some other source of supply. In 1917 it created a supplementary 
course in the Bulak Elemental Training College, 11 students re- 
maining to be trained as teachers of general subjects and 6 as domes- 
tic science teachers. The experiment having proved satisfactory, 
the ministry has now developed the scheme by extending the course 
to a second year. A third section was added for the training of 
kindergarten teachers for the new infant schools and the infant 
classes in the girls' primary schools. 

NASRIA TRAINING COLLEGE AND SCHOOL FOR CADIS. 

Apart from the University of Al Azhar and the other mosque 
schools, the Nasria Training College and the school for Cadis form 
the culmination of the vernacular system. 

The standard of admission to the Nasria Training College is 
very low. The college has now 318 students, all of whom receive 
their training free. The course extends over five years. Its special 
129488°— 19- 7 



98 



BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 



purpose is to train sheiks as teachers of Arabic, the Koran, and 
tenets of Islam for service in the primary and secondary schools. 

The school for Cadis, which is under the Ministry of Justice, com- 
prises two sections, a lower section for training clerks and a higher 
section for training judges, both for service in the Moslem courts. 
The lower course occupies four years and the higher course five 
years. In addition to free education, the students receive a bursary. 

HIGHER COLLEGES. 

The higher colleges, based on the Europeanized system, include 
the School of Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, the School of En- 
gineering, and the Sultania Training College under the Ministry 
of Education ; the School of Law, under the Ministry of Justice ; 
and the School of Agriculture and the Veterinary School, under the 
Ministry of Agriculture. 

The principal facts with reference to the various higher colleges 
are shown in the following table : 

Courses and students in the higher colleges. 



Higher colleges. 


Length 

of 
course. 


Number 

of 
students. 


Higher colleges 


Length 

of 
course 


Number 

of 
students 


School of Law 


4 
3 

4 
5 


288 
273 
239 
237 


School of Agriculture (Giza) . . 
School of Commerce 


4 
3 
4 
3 


120 


School of Medicine 


75 


Veterinary School 


31 


School of Pharmacy 


20 











Admission to the higher colleges is based upon the secondary edu- 
cation certificate examination. For the School of Medicine and the 
School of Engineering the scientific secondary certificate is required, 
for the School of Law the literary certificate ; the other colleges ad- 
mit students irrespective of whether the certificate is obtained on the 
scientific or literary side, though in the School of Agriculture and 
the Veterinary School preference is given to applicants possessing 
the scientific certificate. English is, in the main, the medium of in- 
struction in the higher colleges. 

In the Sultania Training College there are two sections, a literary, 
recruited from students with the literary certificate, for the training 
of teachers of history, geography, translation, etc. ; and a scientific, 
admitting students with the scientific certificate, for the training of 
teachers of mathematics and science. These colleges admit boys 
only. 

THE SANIA TRAINING COLLEGE FOR GIRLS. 

This college forms an important phase in the development of fe- 
male education in Egypt. It is this college that is to supply women 
teachers not only for the girls' primary schools but also for the 



EDUCATION OF JEWS 1ST PALESTINE, 99 

women's elementary training colleges and the girls' higher elemen- 
tary schools. The regulations provide for a four years' course. The 
Sania Training College at present contains 91 students, as compared 
with 77 in 1917 and 4 in 1900, when the college was founded. All 
the students are boarders, and no fees are charged. The standard of 
admission is low, but this will be remedied when a girls' high school, 
which the ministry intends to open, comes into existence. 

A number of graduates of the higher colleges are sent to Europe 
for further studies. At present the Ministry of Education main- 
tains 33 such students, all of whom study in England. 



EDUCATION OF JEWS IN PALESTINE. 

By Theresa Bach, 
Division of Foreign Educational Systems, Bureau of Education. 



GENERAL DEVELOPMENT. 

The recent revival of Hebrew education in Palestine culminated 
in the laying of the corner stone of the future Hebrew University in 
Jerusalem. It was the outgrowth of the Jewish national movement 
known under the name of Zionism. During the past few decades, 
and particularly during the years immediately preceding the war, a 
great revival of the Jewish spirit took place among the Jews in all 
the countries of the world. This is true particularly of Palestine, 
where the Jewish life began to shape itself along national lines. The 
Hebrew language was revived and became a living tongue. Hebrew 
literature sprang up, aspiring to take a place among the great litera- 
tures of the world. Hebrew writings were translated into modern 
languages. The masterpieces of English literature were rendered 
into Hebrew. Hebrew songs, newspapers, and textbooks were cur- 
rent. School children were instructed in Hebrew, despite the en- 
deavors of the Young Turks to make Turkish the principal lan- 
guage of the country, and in active opposition to the propaganda 
carried on by the German, French, and English schools established 
in the Holy Land. Notable among the foreign institutions were the 
schools of the Alliance Israelite and the Hilfsverein der Deutschen 
Juden, a French and a German organization, respectively. The 
former employed French as a language of instruction; the latter, 
German. Neither of these bodies had, however, sufficient compre- 
hension of the new life that was budding in Palestine. The policy 
pursued by the men in charge of foreign schools made it easy for 
the truly nationalistic schools to gain ground and supersede the 
older institutions. No foreign rivalry could crush the efforts of 
those who regarded Hebrew as the language of their own and strove 
to develop it in the land of its origin. 



100 BIENNIAL SUKVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

December 10, 1913, marks a new era in Hebrew education. That 
was the day when not only the language question but the whole 
policy of Jewish education in Palestine was definitely settled. 
The immediate cause of this turn of affaris was the decision of the 
German Hilfsverein with regard to the language of instruction in 
schools supported by that body. Contrary to its previous policy, 
the Hilfsverein began to neglect the study of Hebrew and pushed 
it more and more to the background. This caused much discontent 
among teachers and pupils nationalistically inclined. The climax 
was reached in December, 1913, when the Verein passed a resolu- 
tion to the effect that the language of instruction in the new Techni- 
cum at Haifa, then under construction, should be German. A 
general walkout in all the schools of the Verein followed, with the 
result that the best forces in the teaching staff went over to the 
Hebrew schools and helped in spreading the ancient culture of 
their own. The attitude of the pupils was no less remarkable. 
Over 50 per cent of the total number joined the national schools, 
where instruction was given in their own tongue. An immediate 
consequence of the Hilfsverein's action was the creation of the 
educational committee, which sprang up in time of struggle. The 
aim of this committee was to establish order and cope with the 
situation created by the split. Its efforts were directed toward 
building up a school system truly representative of the best wishes 
of the people. New elementary schools were opened and conducted 
along modern lines in all the towns of Palestine. In Jerusalem, 
Jaffa, and Haifa, national schools replaced the old institutions 
maintained by private philanthropy, which were forced to close 
their doors. These new schools grew rapidly and attracted large 
sections of the population who had held aloof from the semi- 
Hebrew schools of the Hilfsverein. 

In agricultural colonies conditions differed. The colony schools, 
though subsidized from abroad, were not maintained by foreign 
organizations. They came into existence with the colonies them- 
selves and reflected the spirit that animated the settlers. At the 
outset of the war elementary schools existed in each of the 30 colo- 
nies of Palestine. The language of instruction in all these schools 
is Hebrew. The program of the colony schools comprises the usual 
elementary school subjects, in addition to lessons in religion, Bible, 
and Jewish history. Arabic is also taught, as knowledge of this 
language is indispensable in Palestine. In some of the colonies in- 
struction in French is given. This is due to the fact that many of 
the colonies were for some time under the control of the Jewish 
Colonization Association, a French institution which subsidized 
the schools. Fortunately, the subsidy carried with it no interference 
in the internal management of the schools. This was left entirely 



EDUCATION" OF JEWS IN PALESTINE. 101 

to the colonists. The colony schools sprang up independently of 
one another and differed widely in method and character. Some 
had only elementary classes, others with a larger school population 
had a well-equipped elementary school, with eight classes and a 
kindergarten attached to it. Of recent years the teachers' associa- 
tion, which performs the function of a board of education, set a 
certain standard for these schools. This body appoints teachers 
for the colony schools and furthers educational development by 
publishing Hebrew textbooks and a Hebrew educational periodical, 
Ha-Chinnuch. It is noteworthy that all national Hebrew schools 
have been organized and conducted by a local committee of parents 
and teachers. This committee drafts the program of the school, 
subject to the approval of the Hebrew Teachers' Association. 
Schools of the elementary type are the only schools in agricultural 
colonies. The colonies, though growing rapidly, were not large 
enough to provide for secondary instruction. This was introduced 
in the two large cities, Jaffa and Jerusalem. Though not directly 
founded by the Zionist organization, the secondary schools are the 
product of the Zionist spirit. 

SECONDARY EDUCATION. 

The gymnasium in Jaffa, as the secondary school is called, has 
four preparatory and eight regular classes. After the fifth year 
the curriculum branches off into the classical and the so-called 
" real " course. The program of the gymnasium includes, in addi- 
tion to the ordinary high-school program, the study of the Bible, 
the Talmud, Turkish, and Arabic. Emphasis is laid on gym- 
nastics and the excursions which form an important item in all the 
national schools. The rapid development of the Hebrew high 
school in Jaffa is graphically described by Dr. Mossinsohn, one of 
its leaders and inspirers, in the Menorah Journal, December, 1918. 
Opened in 1906 with 17 pupils and 4 teachers, it grew so rapidly 
that in the latter part of 1914 it enrolled 900 pupils and 30 teachers. 
The curriculum is given in Hebrew exclusively, and the diplomas 
of the school are recognized by most of the American and foreign 
universities. In the last few years the popularity of the school 
was so great that it was almost entirely sustained by the income 
derived from tuition. The gymnasium in Jerusalem, organized in 
1908 and patterned after that in Jaffa, had a somewhat slower de- 
velopment. Both high schools are coeducational. Important from 
the point of view of a national system of education was the estab- 
lishment of a school for kinder gartners with a three-year course in 
Jerusalem and a technical high school at Haifa. Both were opened 
in 1914 by the educational committee, as a result of the controversy 
with the Hilfsverein. The Haifa school was opened in place of 



102 BIENNIAL SURVEY OF EDUCATION, 1916-1918. 

the proposed Technicum. It is coeducational and aims to give stu- 
dents a technical training. The original idea of building a higher 
technical institution in Palestine has not been abandoned. Those 
interested in the project hope to realize it as soon as an opportune 
moment presents itself. There are, of course, in Palestine a num- 
ber of Jewish schools with a decidedly religious bias. These 
schools are orthodox in spirit and hostile to modern innovations. 
Their chief aim is to foster the Jewish religion and to keep it intact 
from foreign influences. 

Of special schools the musical conservatories, called Shulammith 
schools, in Jaffa and Jerusalem deserve mention. These schools 
have contributed greatly to the revival of Jewish music by arranging 
concerts and issuing collections of old and new songs. An important 
national school for the promotion of Jewish art is the Bezalel School 
of Arts and Crafts, founded by the artist Boris Schatz. The subjects 
taught in the school are carpet weaving, filagree silver work, carving, 
lithography, lace making, etc. 

AGRICULTURAL TRAINING. 

The provision for agricultural training, so important for the col- 
onies, is wholly inadequate. The Mikveh Israel Agricultural School, 
established in 1870 by the Alliance Israelite Universelle, near Jaffa, 
has an annual budget of about $10,000. The language of instruction 
is French, the course of study lasts four years, and the curriculum 
is intended to turn out professional agronomists, who seek positions 
as inspectors, supervisors, landscape gardeners, and teachers at other 
schools. As there is no field for these agronomists in Palestine, 
many graduates go into other callings or leave the country. The 
Petach-Tikvah Agricultural School, established in 1912, has a very 
ambitious four years' program which includes Hebrew. French, 
Arabic, mathematics, history, geography, chemistry, botany, physics, 
surveying, meteorology, zoology, geology, and mineralogy; soil 
chemistry, the installing of plantations, cattle raising, medicine, 
dairying, plant pathology, administration of farms, agrarian law, 
commercial law, etc. To practical work only two hours a week are 
assigned. Thus neither the old Mikveh Israel School nor the more 
recent Petach-Tikvah Agricultural School has succeeded in work- 
ing out a program suited for the colonies. A unique undertaking is 
the farm school for girls at Kinneret, near the sea of Tiberias, sup- 
ported by a Jewish women's organization. Candidates must be at 
least 17 years old. The pupils enjoy free tuition, board and lodging, 
as well as a monthly stipend. The work is predominantly practical, 
the pupils being occupied from seven to nine hours daily. The sub- 
jects taught in the first year are botany, elementary chemistry and 
physics, cooking and preserving, and in the second the elements of 



EDUCATION OF JEWS IN PALESTINE. 103 

scientific agriculture, fertilizing methods, plant diseases, the prin- 
ciples underlying various crops, poultry raising, cattle breeding, and 
the care of dairy products. The school has for its use 16 acres of 
land for ornamental gardening, forestry, and a barnyard. All the 
work of the farm is done by the pupils, also the sewing and cooking 
required for the institution. 

This was in brief the state of Hebrew education in Palestine be- 
fore the war broke out. The effects of the war were in many in- 
stances disastrous for the newly established school system. Schools 
were turned into hospitals, teachers were banished, funds failed 
to arrive, and pupils were driven from place to place. Yet there 
was a dogged determination to keep the schools open at any cost. 
This often necessitated the feeding and care of children. When 
the population was banished from their own homes, schools were 
opened in the refugee camps. At present a Zionist board of edu- 
cation administers the national schools in Palestine and subsidizes 
all Jewish schools on two conditions : That Hebrew be the language 
of instruction and that there be a certain standard of hygiene and 
sanitation. Funds are supplied from abroad. 

ESTABLISHMENT OF A UNIVERSITY. 

Every effort is made to organize a unified national Hebrew school 
system headed by a Hebrew university, where Jewish culture may 
thrive freely. A higher educational institution is thus far lacking, 
though Zionists and other Jewish circles have dreamed of such an 
institution for a number of years. When Russian universities closed 
their doors to thousands of Jewish students, these were compelled 
to seek higher education in foreign countries. Many went to Swiss, 
others to German and French universities. It was then proposed 
to build a university for Jewish young men and women. But opin- 
ions differed. Some chose Switzerland as the land where such a 
university could flourish. Others who had a definite aim in view 
and looked forward to the revival of the Jewish culture pointed to 
Palestine as an appropriate center. Things were unsettled when in 
July, 1913, negotiations were begun for the purchase of a site in Pal- 
estine, but these were necessarily suspended when the war broke out. 
The declaration of the British Government of November 2, 1917, 
on behalf of the Jewish home in Palestine gave new impetus to the 
movement and spurred the Zionists to renewed educational activi- 
ties. Their efforts have been crowned with success. Palestine is 
to have a Hebrew university. In March, 1918, a Zionist commis- 
sion headed by Dr. Weizmann was sent to the Holy Land under 
the auspices of the British Government. The object of this com- 
mission was, among other things, " To inquire into the feasibility 
of the scheme of establishing a Jewish university." The inquiry 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



104 BIENNIAL SURVEY OE EDUCATION, 1916-1! _^ 

022 126 865 9 

proved so satisfactory that a few months later, i. e., on July 24, 
1018, the commission found it advisable to take the initial steps 
in laying the corner stones of the future university. Representa- 
tives of the Christian, Moslem, and Jewish creeds were present 
at the ceremony, and thus emphasized the cultural value of a higher 
institution in Palestine. In his speech delivered at the laying of 
the foundation stones, Dr. Weizmann has defined the new institu- 
tion as a " Hebrew university," for he continues, " I do not suppose 
that there is anyone here who can conceive of a university in Jeru- 
salem being other than Hebrew." Speaking further of the pro- 
gram, he thus defines it: 

I have spoken of a Hebrew university where the language will be Hebrew, 
just as French is used at the Sorbonne or English at Oxford. Naturally other 
languages, ancient and modern, will be taught in their respective faculties. 
Amongst these we may expect that prominent attention will be given to 
Arabic and other Semitic languages. A Hebrew university, though intended 
primarily for Jews, will, of course, give affectionate welcome to the members of 
every race and every creed. " My house is a house of prayer for all nations." 

Besides the usual schools and institutions which go to form a modern uni- 
versity, it will be peculiarly appropriate to associate with our Hebrew uni- 
versity archaeological research, which has revealed so much of the mysterious 
past of Egypt and of Greece and has a harvest still to be reaped in Pales- 
tine. Our university is destined to play an important part in this field of 
knowledge. Side by side with scientific research the humanities will occupy a 
distinguished place. 

In conclusion Dr. Weizmann pointed out that the Hebrew uni- 
versity, while devoting its activities to the higher scientific achieve- 
ments, will — 

at th,e same time be rendered accessible to all classes of the people. The 
Jewish workman and farm laborer must be enabled to find there a possibility 
of continuing his education in his free hours ; the doors of our libraries, 
lecture rooms, and laboratories must be opened wide to all. Thus the uni- 
versity will exercise its beneficial influence on the nations as a whole. 

Before the political structure of a new nation that is yet old 
had time to grow, before the foundation of such a structure could be 
laid or even conceived under existing conditions, there looms thus 
from the distant Orient a spiritual creation of the Jews, a creation 
that promises to take a prominent place alongside the great insti- 
tutions of learning in our own and in other countries. 



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